


Other Daughter, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Alternate Universe, Original Character - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-01-15
Updated: 2003-01-15
Packaged: 2019-05-15 16:31:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 39,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14794029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: What if the Bartlets had a 17 year old daughter living with them at the White House?Â  Here's what could go on.





	1. Other Daughter, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**The Other Daughter**

**by:** CrazyChris 

**Disclaimer:** The West Wing belongs to NBC and Aaron Sorkin.  This is for entertainment purposes only.  No copyright infringement is intended.  It's just for fun and I'm just borrowing the characters.  
**Category:** New Character, General, AU  
**Rating:** YTEEN  
**Summary:** What if the Bartlets had a 17 year old daughter living with them at the White House?  Here's what could go on.  
**Author's Notes:** I’m thinking about turning this into a series.  Please, please, tell me if I should or not!  Let me know if you like this story, and remember it’s just for fun.  Please send feedback! 

Friday:

Christine Bartlet wandered through the always-busy hallways of the West Wing in the White House.  It was a Friday afternoon, and she had just recently returned from school.  She was currently a junior in high school.  High school was weird these days considering she was the youngest daughter of the President of the United States.  Her father had been president for about 11 months now, but she was still trying to get used to the looks she got in the halls at school when she walked down them followed by her Secret Service Agent, Jason.  Chris loved the political world and spent many free afternoons in the West Wing watching many political people at work.  Her three sisters, Elizabeth, Eleanor, and Zoey, were all older and didn't live in the White House.  Zoey is the one out of the three of them that spends the most time in the White House.  Although Chris claims that Zoey is only at the White House because her boyfriend, Charlie, works for their dad.

Before going to bug her father's senior staff, Chris knew that she should stop and visit him, or else she would never hear the end of it.  She walked towards the direction of the Oval Office and found Mrs. Landingham sitting at her desk.  "Hey, Mrs. Landingham."

"Hello, Christine.  How was school today?" asked Mrs. Landingham.

"Oh you know, same old, same old.  Boring, long, and stressful." replied Chris, who really didn't like school that much.  She just enjoyed being with her friends.

"Ah, yes of course.  Did you get your history test back?"

"Yes, I did," answered Chris hoping Mrs. Landingham would change the subject.  Like always, she didn't.

"How'd you do?"

"Well...um...ahh...you see..."

"That good, huh?"

"I got a ‘C.’ But I mean, come on, it's A.P. US History.  It's not exactly a cakewalk," replied Chris.

"Oh well, I'm sorry to hear that.  You studied hard, so it was probably just a bad test day for you.  Would you like a cookie?" asked Mrs. Landingham.  

"Yes, please."   Chris took a cookie and thanked the kind lady, which she'd known for a while now.  "Hey, is my dad busy?"

"Not that I know of, hang on."  Mrs. Landingham asked the president through his intercom if he had time for a visitor.  The president said he'd enjoy a visitor right now.  Chris took that as her cue to enter the Oval Office.

"Hey, dad." Jed Bartlet looked up at the sound of his youngest daughter's voice.

"Hey, kiddo.  How was school?"

"All right."

"I see you have one of Mrs. Landingham's famous cookies.  What happened?" he asked knowing that Chris always had a cookie whenever something at school didn't go so great.

"Nothing."

"Yeah right.  Did you get your history test back?"  When she didn't answer, her father knew that she had a cookie because she didn't do so great on the test.  "What you get?" 

"A 'C."

"A what?"  Before Chris had to listen to her father any longer, a door to the Oval Office opened.

"Hey, Chris," spoke the man in the doorway.

"Hey, Uncle Leo, what's up?" she asked silently thanking him.

"The usual, kid," he answered.  Chris nodded in response.  "Mr. President, can I interrupt you for a minute?"

"Sure," answered Chris for her father.  "Bye, dad, Uncle Leo."  She quickly began to exit.

“We'll talk about this later, Chris," called her father. Chris just kept walking out of the office into the hallway.  She decided she wanted to go spend some time with one of her favorite persons in the West Wing.

"Hey, brat."

"Sup, Donna?  Dating Josh yet?"

"Nothing much, and no, I'm not dating Josh.  Stop trying to play matchmaker, Chris."

"I can't help it, it's fun," replied Chris.

"Yeah.  Well, unfortunately I have to work right now.  Things have been crazy today.  We'll talk later," spoke Donna as she was grabbing files.

"When are things not crazy?  Have your fun working.  I'm gonna go find my mother," spoke Chris as she walked away.  

Chris walked through the West Wing, saying hi to Sam, Josh, and CJ in the hallway.  Her agent followed her everywhere and never complained.  Eventually, Chris got to her mother's office.  Abbey Bartlet was on the phone, so Chris just sat on the couch in the office and waited for her mom to get off the phone.  It was a long call, so Chris laid on the couch and rested.  Let's just say that, Abbey was on the phone with some very important person.  She really wanted to talk to her daughter, but by the time she got off the phone, her daughter was sleeping.  Abbey then decided to cover Chris with a blanket and continue working.  She knew that her daughter usually had some pretty long and stressful days at school, so she wasn't surprised to see her sleeping.  The only problem was that that nap would energize her daughter who was having a sleepover in the residence that night with her three friends.  Those four would be up all night...it should be an interesting evening.

At about 6:30, Abbey was ready to go to the residence, and Chris had been sleeping for two hours.  Abbey went to the couch and attempted to wake her daughter.  "Hey, Chris, sweetie, wake up."  Chris just groaned in response.  "Christine, wake up! It's 6:30, and your friends will be here in half an hour."  That last statement woke her up.

"Oh crap!  Thanks, mom.  I forgot they were flying in today!" exclaimed Chris who had totally forgotten that three of her friends from New Hampshire were arriving that evening.  "Oh shoot!"

"What's wrong?" asked Abbey who took a seat next to her daughter.

"I told Donna and CJ that we should go to the movies tonight."

"Well, just tell them about the party with your friends.  They'll understand."

"Yeah, you're right.  I'll tell them before going to my room."  

"Come on."  Abbey then led her daughter out of her office, and they headed towards the West Wing.  "I heard about your history test."           

"Dad?"  

"Mrs. Landingham."

"Oh, yes, of course.  Are you mad?"

"Of course not.  I know you studied.  It's an AP class.  I know that the test must have been hard for you.  You'll do better next time."

"I hope so," replied Chris who inside was frustrated because she had thought she did much better on that test.

"Hey you know what you could do?" asked her mom after a moment of silence.

"About AP?"

"Actually I meant CJ and Donna.  I know a way that you wouldn't have to cancel your Friday night on the town."

"How?" asked Chris.  She was really curious.  She loved her friends to death, but she also enjoyed going out with CJ and Donna.  Granted they were both much older than her with careers.  The three usually tended to have a lot of fun when they were out, and to Chris they were like older sisters.  She did have three older sisters who she loved dearly, but they usually weren't home often.  As for friends, Chris's only really close friends were the three coming in that night.  Every one at her school was intimidated almost by who she was and not many talked to her.  Granted she had some friends, but they didn't spend time together out of school.  That's the reason why Christine Bartlet spends so many of her Friday nights with two members of her father's senior staff.

Her mother's idea sounded good.  Abbey suggested that Chris ask CJ and Donna if they were willing to spend the night with Chris and her three friends.  All six of them could go out to eat and see a movie.  It would work out good in a few ways.  Chris would be able to spend time with her friends and CJ and Donna, and her mom would know that someone beside the Secret Service would be able to make sure the four teenagers behaved themselves.

First mother and daughter went to CJ's office.  Abbey started talking to CJ's assistant, Carol, while Chris went to talk to CJ.  "CJ? You busy?" asked Chris.

"Hey, shorty.  I thought we weren't going to leave until 7:30?  You're a little early," said CJ from behind her desk where she was typing at her computer.

"Well, I have to ask you about tonight."

"Okay, what is it?" asked CJ who was a little curious.

"Would you object if I brought three of my friends with me?"  Chris was hoping she wouldn't.

"Friends from school?  I didn't know you hung out with people from school." 

"I don't.  They're not from school.  They're friends from New Hampshire," answered Chris.  Behind her back, Chris's fingers were crossed.

"No, I wouldn't care.  But, Chris, if you want to spend time with them, you don't have to bring Donna and me along.  We hang out all the time.  You won't hurt our feelings."

"Well, I want you to come.  Besides my friends know all about you, and they said they'd like to meet you two.  They wouldn't mind, and I don't either."

 "Well, if Donna's going then I'll go," responded CJ.  Chris ran over and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, CJ!"

"No problem, Shorty."

"7:30 then?"

"When do they get here?" asked CJ referring to the three mysterious friends.

"In about 10 minutes."

"Sure 7:30 is fine."

"See ya later, then."

"Bye, Shorty."  Chris waved then walked out the door.  She met up with her mother in the hallway.   

Abbey reminded Chris that she still had to ask Donna.  Chris knew that, but someone needed to meet Chris's friends downstairs.  Her mom who was always two steps ahead of Chris had actually asked Donna while Chris was asking CJ.  Donna agreed to the night.  After thanking her mom, Chris went downstairs to the entrance of the White House to wait for her three friends.

Fifteen minutes after seven o'clock, a black car pulled up to the entrance.  Chris knew right away who was in the car when she saw her Secret Service Agent Jason get out of the car.  He had agreed to go to pick her friends up at the airport.  During the night, Chris's agent was Roberta, but for short, Chris called her Bobbie.  Before she knew it, Chris's three friends, Emily, Lynda, and Melissa, were out of the car.  They all joined together for a big group hug. Once they were done greeting each other, the friends for years went up to the Residence.

On their way up to Chris's room, she told her friends that they would be going out with CJ and Donna.  Her friends thought that would be cool, and they were looking forward to meeting the infamous Donna and CJ.  They had fifteen minutes until Donna and CJ were supposed to come up, so they decided to just get settled in and wait.  They were barely in Chris's room when there was a knock.  

Chris thought it was Donna and CJ.  "Well, well, well aren't we early birds tonight.  Want to be like my dad and catch the early bird specials huh?" spoke Chris as she walked to open the door.  Her mouth hit the floor when she opened the door.

"I resent that comment, Chris.  You're making fun of me," responded Jed Bartlet who was on as his way to his room.  He had heard that Chris's friends had arrived, so he thought he'd stop and say hello.

"Sorry, dad."  Chris looked behind her father and noticed her mom standing behind him trying not to laugh.  "Hey, mom."  Abbey waved in response.

"You should be."  Jed looked more into his daughter's room and saw the three girls that had come to be like three more daughters to him.  He smiled and waved.

"Hey, girls," spoke Abbey for the first time.  

"Hey mom," responded Lynda, Emily, and Melissa.  They were close to the Bartlets, and Abbey was like another mom to them.  So they all called her mom.  Abbey entered Chris's room and gave each of her "daughters" a hug.

"What's up, kiddies?" asked Jed after his wife was done hugging their "daughters."

"Hello, sir," said all of them.  

"Sir?  Did you just call me sir?" Jed was shocked.  It was bad enough that his best friend called him sir, but now his daughter's friends were too.  To answer his question, Lynda, Emily, and Melissa all nodded trying not to laugh.  For a while now, Chris and her friends thought it would be fun to watch Jed's reaction if the three of them called him sir.  "You used to call me Mr. B.  Now you call me sir!?"

"Yes, sir."

"Stop it!"

"Sorry, sir."  Chris and her mom had to turn around to hide their laughter.

"Please don't call me sir, and stop talking at the same time.  That drives me nuts when you do that!"  The president was becoming extremely frustrated now.

"Whatever you say, sir."  Before he could respond, Donna and CJ came walking into the room.

"Hey guys, ready to go?" asked Chris.

"Whenever you four are," responded Donna.

"Okay then.  Let's go." Chris hugged and kissed her parents good-bye, grabbed her stuff, and walked out of the room.  

Her three friends followed Chris, Donna, and CJ.  "See ya later, Mom!"  

"Bye girls, have fun!"

"Bye girls!" called the president.

"Good-bye, sir."  As they were walking away, everyone could hear the president's frustrated cry, and the girls all started laughing.  Once they explained to CJ and Donna what was happening, they joined in on the laughter.  

After Chris introduced everyone, they all decided to eat at the cafe that was a few blocks from the White House.  Last time Chris and her friends were together it was in the summer, and Chris went to New Hampshire.  Her friends didn't really know anyone that worked for the president.  They only really knew Mrs. Landingham because she had worked for Mr. B for years.  

"Alright so how do all of you know each other?" asked CJ after they had ordered their food at the restaurant.

"Well, I met Emily when we were in kindergarten," started Chris.

"And then I met Chris in first grade, and she introduced me to Emily," continued Lynda.

"We then all became really good friends and spent a lot of time together," said Emily.

"Not too long after that, Emily who is my cousin introduced me to Chris and Lynda.  We've been friends ever since," finished Melissa.

"So all of you have been friends for like what eight years?" asked Donna.

"Yeah about that," answered Lynda.

"You guys are all really close," stated CJ.

"Yep, we're like sisters," declared Chris.

"Which is why we call Chris's mom, Mom, and her dad, Mr. B," informed Emily.

"That's so cute," mentioned Donna.  Shortly after that their food arrived.  The rest of the time, the teens told stories from the past.  Donna and CJ heard some very interesting stories.  Some that had he not been the President of the United States they would use as blackmail.

"Hey, do you guys remember that time when we were 10 and had that sleepover?" asked Melissa bringing up another tale of the past.

"The one where my mom was out of town with my sisters?" asked Chris making sure she was thinking of the same past time.

"Yes!" spoke Melissa who was already starting to laugh.  Donna and CJ were getting a kick out of the girls.

"We told your dad that only girls could be at the party and that he had to leave," brought up Lynda.

"Yeah, and then he said he felt left out.  He went into his room and 'changed' into a better outfit," exclaimed Emily in between laughs.  The girls all could see a picture of that night in their head, and they were soon laughing so hard they couldn't talk.

"What did he do?" asked Donna who was just as curious as CJ to find out what their boss did.

"Well, after he left we turned on a movie, and about a half hour later we heard someone walking..." Chris was laughing too hard, so Lynda picked up where she left off.

"The person walking was Mr. B.  Except he wasn't really Mr. B anymore," started Lynda.

"Yeah, he came walking into the TV room wearing women's clothing, some high heels, and he even put some make-up on," spoke Emily in between laughs.

"He started talking in this high pitched voice and asked us if he could join the party.  I couldn't believe he did that!" exclaimed Chris.

"He did not!?" asked CJ who was now laughing as hard as the girls.  The girls only nodded in response.  "Oh please tell me you girls were smart enough to take a picture."  Like Donna, CJ was hoping she could see her boss dressed up as a woman.

"Hell, yeah!" exclaimed Chris.  "We took a few pictures of him with my camera so that we could show my mom and sisters.  He wasn't very willing but once we brought out the puppy dog faces he gave in."

"Do you still have them?" asked Donna.

"Yep, dad told me to burn them, but I just hid them.  Whenever I need a good laugh, I look at them.  He probably doesn't even remember that I have them."

"Could we see them?" asked CJ.

"Of course, I'll show you when we get back to the White House.  You just have to swear that you'll pretend like you never saw them before in your life."  CJ and Donna both agreed.  They were looking forward to seeing those pictures.

After much story telling, the six of them all left the restaurant and headed towards the movie theater.  They were all in the mood for a laugh, so they decided to see the always-enjoyable Toy Story 2.  Even though it was a kid movie, technically, that didn't matter to them.  The girls were all big fans of the first movie, and they wanted to see the second.  They all enjoyed it.  After the movie ended it was about 10:30, they didn’t know what else to do, so they all headed back to the White House.

Once they arrived back, they all went up to the Residence into Chris’s room.  The first thing they did was show Donna and CJ the pictures of the president dressed like a woman.  Donna and CJ started laughing so hard their eyes started tearing.  Even though they had been there, the girls were laughing just as hard.  Once their laugher calmed down, Chris hid the pictures again.  After some discussing, Chris finally popped a tape in the VCR.  Lynda, Emily, and CJ all sat on Chris’s bed to see the TV.  Donna, Melissa, Chris, and Bobbie, who enjoyed watching the video they had on, sat on the floor around the TV.  The video they were watching just happened to be the Backstreet Boys’ Homecoming concert.  The girls were big BSB fans, and Bobbie became one because Chris showed her all kinds of videos and played their CDs.

About 30 minutes into the concert, the president walked in to see what all of them were doing.  He couldn’t believe what he saw.  “Chris!  It’s bad enough that you brainwashed Bobbie with those Westside Boys.  Now you’re brainwashing members of my Senior Staff!”

“Westside Boys?  Okay first of all, it’s Backstreet Boys.  Second of all, I did not brainwash Bobbie!  She chose to like them!  She thinks Howie’s cute, and I think the two of them would make a cute couple…” Jed started giving his teenage daughter a really weird look.  “Okay, I’m just going to shut up now because you’re giving me a really weird look.”

“Cute couple?” asked Jed. 

“You’re right, they would make a cute couple,” replied Donna referring to Chris’s earlier comment.

“Oh no!  One of them is already brainwashed!” yelled Jed.

“Jed, although you may like to think so, the Backstreet Boys do not brainwash anyone,” spoke Abbey who had walked in.  She had been trying to find out where her husband had disappeared to.

“They do so brainwash people, Abbey!  Look at them!  Especially that MC guy.  Who could like those guys?”  Jed didn’t hate the BSB as much as he said.

“AJ!” yelled Lynda correcting the president.

“Whatever!” was his response.

“Hey, those boys are good, clean-cut, talented singers.  And besides that Kevin guy is kind of cute,” said Abbey adding in an opinion about her favorite BSB.

“Oh yeah!” responded Lynda and CJ together who also thought that Kevin was sexy.

“Oh my, Abbey!  Not you too!  Ahhh!” exclaimed the president.

“Oh, Jed, grow up!” yelled Abbey.  “I think it’s time for you to leave now.”

“Fine,” responded the president in a gruff voice.  He stomped down the hallway while Abbey sat down in a chair to watch the concert with everyone else.  Hey, they were going to do the hat dance soon; Abbey loved that dance.

During the song “Let’s Have a Party,” someone decided to make a comment when one of the members started shaking his butt.  “Shake it, baby!”

“Lynda, you do that every time.  It’s starting to get old,” said Melissa not moving her eyes from the TV.

“Excuse me, but for the record, I would just like to say that, I didn’t say that,” spoke Lynda from the bed.

“Well, then who did,” asked Chris.  They all turned and looked at the bed and saw CJ trying to act like she was extremely interested in the tape.

“What?” asked CJ.

“You!” exclaimed Donna.

“He’s sexy!  I got carried away!  You should talk, Donna, you were practically drooling during AJ’s solo!” exclaimed CJ as her cheeks changed to a dark crimson.

“I was not!” defended Donna.

“You needed a tissue,” brought up Lynda.

“I had something in my eye!” yelled Donna.

“Oh, yeah, because when you have something in your eye, you need to wipe your chin!” replied CJ.

“All right, all right, stop fighting already!  Brian’s singing!” yelled Christine trying to get everyone to shut up so that she could hear her favorite Backstreet Boy sing.  Everyone quickly shut up because they tried talking earlier while Brian was singing and Chris got lethal.

The rest of the concert there was mainly just hoots and hollers coming from everyone.  There really wasn’t any fighting.  Lynda, CJ, and Abbey mainly said something when Kevin did something.  Chris when Brian did something.  Emily and Bobbie made comments about Howie, and Melissa and Donna yelled for AJ.  After the concert ended it was after midnight, so Abbey went to bed.  CJ and Donna decided to go home because they had to get up early the next morning.  The girls spent the rest of the night watching movies and talking.

Saturday:

The girls all woke up around 10:30 the next morning.  They had breakfast and changed out of their pajamas.  At about 11:15, Chris realized that she hadn’t seen her parents yet so she asked Jason, her Secret Service agent, where they were.  “Hey, Jason, where’s my dad?”

“The president and Leo are in New York for a charity benefit.  They’re scheduled to return after 7 this evening,” replied Jason.

“Oh, I see, and my mom would be?” asked Chris.

“She is also in New York for the benefit.”

“So you mean my parents are both in New York?  And they won’t be home until after 7?”

“That’s right.”

“Thank you!”  Chris ran back into her room where her friends were playing N64.  “Guys, guys!  The geese have left the nest until the chicks hatch!”

“Your mom and dad are gone!?” asked Melissa.

“Until after 4?!” exclaimed Lynda.  

“That would be ‘until the seagulls arrive!’  They won’t be home until after 7!” yelled Emily.

“All right!  Par-tay!” exclaimed Lynda.

“Oh yeah!  You guys wanna go have some fun in the West Wing?” asked Chris.  Her friends quickly jumped up, turned off the N64, and followed Chris to the West Wing.

Once in the West Wing, they found out that CJ was about to do a special Saturday press briefing about the charity benefit the president was at.  The girls decided to have some fun, so they snuck into the pressroom.  Once CJ started taking questions, the fun began.  For the third time that afternoon, CJ called on Danny, she hadn’t noticed Chris, Lynda, Emily, and Melissa hiding in the back yet.

“CJ, I…” started Danny.

“Excuse me!  But he’s already asked three questions, I think it’s my turn now!” interrupted Chris.  CJ’s jaw hit the floor when she saw the Bartlet child in the pressroom.  “CJ, how many times a day do you feed your goldfish?”

Hoping that if she answered this question there wouldn’t be anymore from the teenagers in the back. “Once.  Next question.”

“What’s the goldfish’s name?” asked Lynda before anyone else could.  The press was too busy laughing at Chris’s first question.

“Gail.  Next question, preferable someone with a degree.”

“When are you and Danny finally going to hook up?” asked Melissa.

“I want to know that too,” piped in Danny.

“’Hook up’?” asked CJ.

“Yeah! When?” yelled Chris.

“The White House does not comment on the personnel lives of the staff,” replied CJ using the typical answer.

“Well, that’s a sucky answer,” answered Chris.

“I agree with her,” replied Danny.

“You would,” said CJ.  “Well, I think that’s all the questions for today.  The lid is on.  No more news from the White House.  I’ll see all of you except for four teenagers on Monday.”  CJ then left the podium and exited  “I’m gonna kill them.  I don’t care what happens to me, I’m gonna kill them.”  CJ rambled on to her assistant Carol as she walked back to her office.  CJ was dying to yell at the four girls, but she had a quick meeting to go to first.

As soon as her meeting was over, CJ went on a hunt for four teenagers.  Her meeting only lasted a half-hour, luckily.  No one knew where the girls were.  CJ took a chance and looked in the pressroom.  She could not believe what she saw.  Chris and Lynda were up at the podium singing “Joy To the World” by Three Dogs Night.  No one had noticed CJ yet, so she went and turned off the radio.  It took a few minutes, but the girls finally noticed that the music was off and who did it.

“Uh-oh,” spoke Lynda.

“You could say that.  Just what do you think you’re doing?” asked CJ not sounding very happy.

“We were…um..testing the mic for the…um…mic guy cause he..uh…asked us to…and…” stumbled Chris trying to come up with an excuse.

“We don’t have a mic guy,” replied CJ.

“You..uh…do now?” tried Melissa.  CJ just glared.

“RUN!” screamed Chris as the girls jumped up and ran out the side door.  The girls ran as fast as they could to the first open door they saw.  The door happened to lead into Sam’s office.

“What are you guys doing?” asked a very confused Sam.

“We need a place to hide from CJ!” exclaimed Emily.

“She’s obviously out of her meeting and is trying to yell at you for that stunt you pulled in the pressroom during her briefing today, huh?” asked Sam who saw the briefing that day.

“Well, that, and we were um doing karaoke in the pressroom, and she walked in and wasn’t too happy,” explained Chris.  After that they heard CJ asking Ginger if she saw the girls.

“Sam, help!” yelled Chris.

“Um…the closet?”  The girls hid right before CJ entered.

“Sam have you seen the girls….I’d like to share a few words with them.”

“The girls?  What girls?  Who are the girls?  I haven’t seen any girls,” stumbled Sam.

“Okay, Sam.  You suck at lying.  There in here, right?” asked CJ who started looking around.

“In here?  No, of course not.”

“WHERE!?” yelled CJ.

“Under the desk,” blurted out Sam who was frightened by the look in CJ’s eyes.

CJ walked over to Sam’s desk and looked under it.  “Hello,” spoke CJ “sweetly.”

“Hi,” was the small reply she received.

“Would you like to come out from underneath there?  It’s easier to kill you out in the open.”

“My dad would get mad at you if you killed me,” tried Chris.

“Oh, I have a feeling he’ll see the briefing and thank me for doing him a favor.”

“Help!” yelled Chris.

“CJ, why don’t we go sit somewhere for a little bit,” said Sam trying to save the girls.

“OH NO! I don’t think so!  Out now, girls!”  The girls unwillingly gave in.  They sat on the couch while CJ yelled at them for everything that they did in the pressroom.  She added in some threats, which is why it was a good thing that Sam was there and was eventually joined by Toby.  The two guys played the refs during CJ’s rampage.  Eventually, CJ was done yelling, and let the girls go without doing any bodily harm to them.  The girls decided that they would stay away from CJ for the rest of the day.

The girls were extremely bored and spent much time trying to figure out what to do.  It was a little after two, and Chris’s parents were scheduled to be back in about 5 hours.  Pretty much all of the members of the Senior Staff were busy, and the girls decided that bothering them would be a bad idea.  After much debate, they decided that they would use some old pieces of entertainment that belonged to Chris and her sisters.

“Hey, Kathy, have you seen the files for the H357 bill?” asked Sam.  He needed the files because on Monday he would be at a meeting regarding the bill.

“Yes, hang on, I’ll get them,” replied Kathy.  She got up and went into another room.  

“Thank you.” Sam stood and waited for her by her desk.

“Sam…”  Sam thought he heard his name, but he wasn’t sure.

“Sam…” That time he was sure he heard a whisper.  It sounded like it was coming from Toby’s office.  He turned towards it and saw Chris crouched down on the floor.

“Sam, move,” whispered Chris.

“What?” asked Sam rather loud.

“”Shhh! Move,” tried Chris again.  She started moving her arm to try and get her point cross.           

“Why?” Sam was somewhat confused.

“Just move!”

“Why!?”  After that comment, Chris pointed a relatively large gun at Sam and finally got her point across.  “Whoa!”  Sam quickly moved out of the way.  However, after he moved, the reason why Chris wanted him to move was gone.

“Damn!” cursed Chris.

“What are you doing!?” asked Sam.

“Playing laser tag with my friends!  Melissa was behind you, that’s why I wanted you to move,” stated Chris.

“You’re playing laser tag!?” 

“Yeah.”

“In the West Wing?!”

“Yeah,” answered Chris with a touch of sarcasm.

“Why?”

“We were bored, and do you know how many hiding places there are here?”

“A lot?”

“Oh yeah!”

“Sam, here’s those files.”

“Thanks, Kathy.” Sam started to head back into his office.  “Hey, Chris, come in here a minute.”

Chris followed Sam into his office.  “Sam, you’re not going to yell at me…are you?  Because I got enough yelling from CJ today…and...”

“Chris, shut up!”

“Sorry.”

“I’m not going to yell at you.”  Chris let out a big sigh of relief.  “You guys have teams?”       

“I’m sorry?”

“Your laser tag game…do you have teams?

“Yeah, actually we do.  Me and Lynda versus Melissa and Emily,” stated Chris.  “Why?”

“You have any extra vests and guns?”      

“Yeah…four…Sam, I’m confused, why do you care?”

“You know, here’s the thing, it’s been a pretty stressful day, and many people in the office deserve to have a little bit of fun, and…”

“Sam, do you want to play?” asked Chris trying not to laugh at the thought.

“Would you guys object?” he asked.

“No.  All you have to do is get some others to play so that we have even teams,” she answered.

“Alright, I’ll get some people, and then we’ll find you.”

“Yeah, okay.”  Chris left Sam’s office and continued with her game with her friends.

About an hour and a half later, the West Wing offices had turned into a type of war zone…literally.  Chris, Lynda, Emily, Melissa, Sam, Josh, CJ, and Toby were involved in a high-powered game of laser tag.  There were two teams: Chris, Lynda, Josh, and Toby versus Emily, Melissa, CJ, and Sam.  To get a little more into it, the girls put on army camouflage shirts and pants, and everyone had to wear war paint.  The game consisted of yelling, leaping over desks and chairs, and even rolls on the floor.

Toby was lying on the floor trying to sneak up on Sam, and before he knew it four pairs of shoes came around the corner.  He looked up to see whom the feet belonged to, and as soon as he saw the owners he jumped up.

“Mr. President, sir,” he spoke.

“Toby, did a war start in the White House that I don’t know about?” asked the president trying not to laugh.

“No, sir, I…” Toby was unable to finish because he was interrupted.           

“TOBY!! RUN!! SAM’S COM….!” yelled Chris who stopped quickly when she saw her father, which caused Lynda who was close at Chris’s feet to run into her.

“Why’d?” started Lynda but then she saw Mr. B.

“Oh crap,” spoke Chris.  

“Yeah, I would say that,” said Jed.  “Toby, I’d like to see you and the rest of my senior staff that is playing laser tag in the Oval Office,” he started.  Chris and Lynda tried to sneak away but were noticed.  “Chris, Lynda, don’t go too far, all you girls are after them.” The girls stopped and smiled.

“We were just going to…um…get the others, sir,” stumbled Lynda.

“I’m sure you were, and call me sir again and there will be a punishment.”  The president and Toby started heading down the hallway.

“Sorry, Mr. B.” replied Lynda.

“That’s better!” yelled the president as he walked.

“…Sir…” mumbled Lynda.

“I heard that!” Toby tried not to laugh, which wasn’t too hard, and Chris and Lynda did laugh.

An hour later, the four girls sulked out of the Oval Office.  The reason they were caught playing laser tag in the West Wing was because the president got home early.

“Guys, we just got yelled at,” began Melissa.

“By the President of the United States,” added Emily.

“In the Oval Office,” brought up Lynda.

“Cool!” exclaimed the three girls.

“You guys are pathetic,” said Chris.

“I’ve never been in the Oval Office before.  It was very cool,” defended Emily.

“What…” started Chris.

“Oh girls,” interrupted a voice.      

“Uncle Leo!” exclaimed Chris once she identified the owner of the voice.

“Don’t get too excited, I just saw today’s press briefing.”

“Um, Uncle Leo, we can…”

“Save it, Chris.  All of you, my office, now!”

The girls solemnly followed the Chief of Staff into his office.  Somehow the Chief of Staff office just wasn’t as exciting as the Oval Office.

“I’m just going to get right to the point,” stated Leo after everyone was seated.  “I would like to know what you were thinking when you decided to go into the Press Room and ask illegitimate questions!”

“Uncle Leo, we were just having fun,” explained Chris.

“Having fun!?  I’m sure your father would love to hear that considering he worked so hard to keep his children away from the press!” yelled Leo as the girls cowered together on the couch.

“I really don’t think the press would want to write about us!” yelled Chris.

“We’ll just have to see that they don’t,” answered Leo.  “Let’s just move past that because I know CJ already yelled at you.  Let’s talk about the next thing you did.  I believe CJ put it that you four were having karaoke in the press room.”

“We were testing the mic for the mic guy!” defended Chris.

“Yeah, we’re getting punished for doing a guy a favor,” added in Melissa.

“We don’t have a mic guy!” yelled Leo.

“Yes, you do!” shot back Chris.

“No, we don’t!”

“Yes, you do!”

“No, we don’t!”

“Yes, you do!”

“No…alright, you know what, this is childish. Let’s just move on to the next thing you decided to do for fun.”  He gave the girls a stern look before continuing.  “Playing laser tag in the West Wing!?”

“Do you know how many hiding places there are in the West Wing?” asked Lynda.

“I don’t really care! You shouldn’t have been doing it!”

“Josh, Sam, Toby, and CJ were playing too!” shouted Chris.

“Yes, I know that, and I already talked to them about it.  Look, next time you want to play laser tag do it in the Residence, alright?”  The girls all agreed and started to leave.  “Where are you going?”

“We thought you were done, those are the only things we did today,” said Emily.

“Oh no, I haven’t given you your punishment yet.”

“PUNISHMENT!?!?” exclaimed the girls.

“Yes,” answered Leo.  “Since you have so much energy and are so bored, I want you to wash the windows.”

“Wash the windows!?” shrieked Lynda.

“Yes,” answered Leo smiling.

“Just the ones in the West Wing?” asked Chris.

“No, all of them.”

“Uncle Leo, there’s 147 windows in this building,” exclaimed Chris.

“147!?!?” yelled the other girls.

“Well, I guess you’ll be busy for a while then.”  After that comment, the girls just huffed and stormed out of the room.

Chris was the last one out, and before closing the door, she turned back into her uncle’s office.  “You’re the biggest jerk in the world!! I HATE YOU!!”  Chris then slammed the door, and stomped out of the room with her friends.

“Yeah, so that didn’t go so well,” said Margaret, Leo’s secretary, to herself.

Everyone who was still in the White House had the "pleasure" of seeing Chris, Emily, Melissa, and Lynda stomping around and washing windows.  The girls were extremely pissed off at Leo.  Some people, especially members of the Senior Staff, were trying to cheer up the girls by joking around with them but were unsuccessful.

"Excuse me, girls?” asked Toby.  They just turned and glared at him.  "I'm sorry to say this, but there are streaks on my window."

"Lick 'em off!" growled Emily.

"O...K...I was just joking around." The girls didn't respond, so Toby just left.  After he told the other staffers about the girls' reaction, they sent Josh to try and cheer them up.

After several minutes of searching, Josh finally found the girls.  Three of them were washing windows, and one was knocking on the wall.  "What are you doing, Lynda?"

"I'm looking for a way out of here."

"Oh, so you're looking for a secret exit?"  

"Yeah."

"Well, it's not in this room, it's in the room next door."  Lynda just glared at him then went on to help with the windows.  "I tell ya, you girls are extremely sensitive today."  After receiving a look of death, Josh left the room.  The Senior Staff decided that they would just leave the girls alone.

Meanwhile, the girls went into the next room, found a hidden door, and left the building.

"Leo, what did you do to my girls?" asked the president shortly after Jed first saw the girls stomping around.

"I gave them a punishment."

"A punishment?"

"Yes, sir, they have to wash windows."    

"Wash windows?  Just the ones in the West Wing?"         

"No, all of them."

"Leo, there's 147 windows in this building!"

"I'm well aware of that fact, sir, your daughter, Josh, Sam, CJ, and Toby have all told me that," replied Leo.

"Leo, how many daughters have you had?" asked Jed.  Before Leo could answer, Jed did for him.  "One.  I have four, plus Chris's friends, that's seven.  You're punishment was really a bad idea.  Four pissed off females at the same time is not a pretty picture."

"Sir..." started Leo.

"Excuse me, Mr. President," interrupted Ron, one of the president's Secret Service Agents.

"Yes, Ron, what is it?" asked the president.

"We have a bit of a situation."

"Yes?"  Jed Bartlet hated those words.

"Your daughter and her friends are missing."

"Missing?  How?  I swear, Leo, if they jumped out a window, you're fired."

"Mr. President?"            

"What is it, Josh?  Now is not a good time.  Four people are missing right now, and once my wife finds out she's going to be pissed.  Although more pissed at Leo then at me for once, thankfully."

"I may know where they are," answered Josh ignoring the president's whole "pissed off" speech.  "Ron, I'd have agents start looking outside."

"Why do you say that?" asked Ron.

"I saw the girls about a half hour ago, and they were searching for a secret exit," explained Josh.

"And you didn't try to stop them!?" exclaimed the president sneaking a quick glare at his Chief of Staff.

"With all due respect, sir, I didn't think they'd actually find it."  
  


"Well, what are we waiting for?  Start searching!" ordered Jed.  Everyone in the building began searching the White House inside and the area outside hoping to find the girls.  Even the Senior Staff was searching.

After about a half hour, the entire area outside of the White House had been searched, and there was no sign of the girls.  Jed Bartlet was not happy, and Leo was making an extra effort in the search and staying away from his friend.  Josh decided to try following the girls’ footsteps, so he went into the room that he told them the secret exit was.  He finally found the door and went through it.

“Are you sure we went down that one already?” asked Lynda.

“Yeah, cause I remember seeing those pipes,” replied Emily.

“There’s pipes down every corridor!” exclaimed Lynda.  The girls were extremely frustrated.  They finally found a secret exit out of the White House, but they never realized how much of a maze it was.

“Hello?” asked a voice.

“Oh crap, it’s Josh,” whispered Chris.  “Quick, hide!”

“Where?” asked Melissa.            

“Just go somewhere!”

“You four are still in the building!?” exclaimed Josh once he located the girls who were unsuccessful at hiding.

“Hey, Josh,” spoke Chris first.

“Hey.  Chris, your father has everyone in the building looking for all of you.”

“Gee, I didn’t think anyone cared that much,” said Chris dryly.  The others just watched the conversation between Josh and Chris.

“That’s not true and you know it,” defended Josh.

“How long has everyone been looking for us?” asked Chris.

Josh looked at his watch before replying.  “ About an hour.”  

“It took all of you an hour to find us?”

“We were looking for you outside because we figured that’s where you would be,” answered Josh.

“I see, but no one thought that maybe it would be a good idea to try and follow our footsteps?” spoke Chris sarcastically.

“Listen, Chris, I’m not the one you should be angry at,” tried Josh.

“I know.”  
  


“Is anyone down here?” yelled another voice.

“He’s the one I’m mad at,” whispered Chris.

“Josh, did you…?” started Leo who had found the door that Josh left opened and decided to venture into it.  “Oh thank God, Chris, girls, you had us all so worried.”

“Wow, Leo, it’s so amazing that you seem to care when we’re missing, but you could care less about ruining our night by making us wash 147 windows!” yelled Chris.

Josh, Leo, and Chris’s friends all cringed after that comment.  Chris never called Leo, “Leo,” she always called him “Uncle Leo.”  Yep, she was pissed.

“Alright, you know what, let’s not start this down here, Chris.  Let’s just go back upstairs.  I’m sure your mom and dad are worried about us, and I’m sure Leo’s not going to make us finish our punishment,” said Emily.  She was the first of the girls to speak.  Leo nodded in response.

“Fine,” huffed Chris as she stomped past Leo and Josh and headed back to the White House.  Everyone followed behind her.

“Girls, I’m sorry about punishing you that way.  I was just trying to teach all of you a lesson.  I’ll make it up to, I’ll never punish you again, as long as you promise to never try to sneak out again,” apologized Leo to the three girls that were not trying to run from him.

The girls all giggled a little.  “Apology accepted,” said Lynda.

“Yeah, it’s all right,” answered Emily.

“We won’t do it again,” finished Melissa.

“Thanks,” answered Leo.  At least he now only had one person mad at him instead of four.

“Don’t you wish Chris was as accepting as her friends,” brought up Josh.

“Yeah,” laughed Leo.  The group made their back into the building.  They closed the hidden door, and then proceeded to find Chris.

Meanwhile, Chris walked quickly up into the Residence and slammed her bedroom door.  Her agent, Bobbie, saw her, and she told the other Secret Service agents that Chris had been found.  Abbey and Jed were down the hall and heard a door slam.

“Bobbie? Was that Chris who slammed the door?” asked Jed.

“Yes, sir.  She’s in her room.”

“Thank you,” answered Abbey as Jed went to his daughter’s room.  Abbey decided to just stand outside the door and intervene if she heard a lot of yelling.  Jed had told her earlier that he wanted to talk to his daughter alone once she was found.  “Hi, girls,” spoke Abbey once she saw Lynda, Melissa, and Emily.

“Any yelling yet?” asked Emily who knew that Chris tended to yell when she was really upset like she was that evening.

“Not yet, but her dad just went in.”

The girls nodded.  They were accompanied by Leo who sat on one of the couches in the hall.  The girls and Abbey followed his example.  Josh had split from the group earlier and went to tell Sam, CJ, Toby, and Donna that they found the girls.

Chris was sitting on her bed looking at a magazine.  She was just looking at the pictures because she was too upset to try and read.  She heard her door open and looked up at her father.  She quickly returned to her magazine and ignored him.

“Hi,” he spoke while sitting down on her bed.

“Hi,” replied Chris not lifting her eyes.

“You had your mother and I pretty worried,” he tried.  She didn’t say anything.  “What are you reading?” he asked trying to take a different approach.

“Magazine,” she answered brusquely.

“Why are you mad at me?  I didn’t make you wash 147 windows,” he retorted.  She didn’t answer him.  “Chris, put the magazine down.” When she didn’t he took it away from him.  She just looked at him.  “Now, why are mad at me?  I wasn’t the one that ordered you and your friends to wash 147 windows.”

“That’s right you didn’t!  But you know what you didn’t do!?” she shouted.

“What?” he asked trying to stay calm.

“You’re his boss!  You could have stopped him!  Made him make the punishment less harsh!  But you didn’t!  When you saw us walking through the building, you didn’t do anything!  You didn’t care!” 

“I didn’t know what you were doing.  Besides you all deserved a punishment, and you didn’t take me seriously, but you took him seriously!”  Now the president was starting to yell.  Out in the hall, everyone looked at each other because they knew that the shouting matches were about to start.

“Yeah, but, dad, it was totally unfair!”

“You all caused a decent amount of trouble today!”

“We were just having fun!”

“But you know better!!”

“I’m not listening to this again.”  Chris started to leave.

“Sit down!  I’m not done yet!”  Chris obeyed him because now he was extremely mad.  “Just what the hell do you think you were doing in the press room!?  Don’t even tell me that you were ‘just having fun’!!  You are never, ever supposed to be in there during a press conference!”

“Dad, I’m sorry, I…”  Chris gave up.  She knew she was wrong to have done that, and she knew that she exposed herself more than her father wanted her to.  “I…I’m just sorry.  It was stupid I know.”

“Yeah, it was stupid.”  Neither one of them said anything for a long time.  Those in the hall were surprised that they weren’t still hearing shouting.   “I’m also sorry for not telling Leo to stop his punishment, it was a bit ridiculous.”

“Well, at least I know that you feel the same way as we do.”

“Are you kidding? Everyone in the West Wing feels the same way.”           

“Toby and Josh were making fun of us!”

“No they weren’t, they were trying to cheer you up.  They were part of the reason that the four of you had to wash windows.  The Senior Staff felt guilty.”

“They did a crappy job at cheering us up.”            

“Yeah, I know.”  There was another pause between father and daughter.  “Listen, Chris, are we okay now?”   

“Yeah,” she answered smiling slightly at her father.

“Good.”  Jed then went on to hug his daughter.  “You really had us all worried.”

Chris broke the hug.  “I know, I’m sorry.”  

“Leo was especially worried.”

“Yeah, probably because he knew that if he didn’t find us, his ass would be yours.”

Jed laughed.  “That’s funny, but watch your mouth.”  Chris apologized and received another hug.  “You should probably go apologize.  You know he was only doing it because he cares about you.”

Chris did as she was told and went out to find Leo.  She opened her door and found Leo, her mom, and friends all talking.  “So you guys already apologized, huh?”

“Yeah,” replied her friends.

“I see.”  Chris paused a minute before speaking.  “Uncle Leo.”  As soon as everyone heard her call him uncle they knew she was about to make an apology.  “I’m sorry for acting the way I did, and I want to say thank you for caring.”

“Caring?” he asked.

“Yes, I know that you care about us and don’t want us to get hurt.  You punished all of us so that we wouldn’t pull that whole press conference thing again.  You really weren’t all that upset about the whole laser tag thing.”

“Yes.  I was upset about the laser tag thing, but I didn’t care that much about it.  I’m sorry for giving you such an outrageous punishment.  Do you forgive me?”  Chris just smiled and then went and gave her godfather a hug.  Everyone in the room let out a sigh of relief.  They were happy that the two had made up.  Abbey smiled at her husband who knew that he was the one that made Chris see Leo’s reasoning for his punishment better.

That night, Jed, Abbey, Chris, Lynda, Melissa, Emily, Lynda, Leo, Josh, Sam, CJ, Toby, and Donna all had dinner together.  After dinner they all watched a movie together.  CJ and the girls made up, and later that night along with Donna, Josh, Sam, and Toby, they played some N64 up in Chris’s room.  The next day, the girls mainly just did the usual teen things.  Talked about guys and things.  They also played laser tag again with Josh, CJ, Sam, and Toby because they all said that they needed to finish their game.  This time they played in the Residence.  Around six that evening, the three girls left to go back to New Hampshire.  They would see each other again for New Years Eve at the White House.  The girls couldn’t wait.  Until that time, Chris continued going to school and bugging all of her father’s Senior Staff.

The End


	2. Other Daughter, The 2

**The Other Daughter ~ Too Much Free Time Can Be Bad**

**by:** CrazyChris 

**Disclaimer:** The West Wing belongs to NBC and Aaron Sorkin.  This is for entertainment purposes only.  No copyright infringement is intended.  It's just for fun and I'm just borrowing the characters.  
**Category:** New Character, General, AU  
**Rating:** YTEEN  
**Summary:** What if the Bartlets had a 17 year old daughter living with them at the White House?  Here's what could go on.  
**Author's Notes:** I’m thinking about turning this into a series.  Please, please, tell me if I should or not!  Let me know if you like this story, and remember it’s just for fun.  Please send feedback! 

* * *

Monday, December 20:

Today was Christine Bartlet’s first day of Christmas break.  She was looking forward to a family Christmas back at her house in New Hampshire.  She was also excited about New Year’s Eve because it was going to be her first New Year’s party at the White House, and she’d be with her three friends from New Hampshire.  This morning Chris woke up at about 9:30.  Her dad, the President of the United States, had been extremely busy all weekend, and she was unable to see him all that much.  Seeing as though she didn’t have anything to do, Chris got dressed then went to find her father in the Oval Office.  

Unlike usual, Chris didn’t ask to go in the Oval Office she just went into it.  She usually asked first, but no one was there to ask.  When she entered Chris was shocked to see that the office was empty.  Her father was almost always still in the Oval Office at that time in the morning.  She looked for Charlie, her father’s personnel aide, but he couldn’t be found.  Mrs. Landingham was also missing.  

After some looking around, Chris eventually found CJ sitting in her office.  She didn’t look that busy to Chris, but Chris had an interesting definition of busy.  To most people, CJ would have looked busy.  CJ was on the phone, typing on her computer, and reading a briefing memo.  Nope, she wasn’t busy to Chris.  She entered the office and just stared at CJ waiting for her to notice her.  CJ eventually looked up.

“Chris, I’m busy.”

“I can wait.”  Chris then went on to sit on CJ’s couch and waited for her to finish whatever she was doing.  About 20 minutes later, CJ was done talking on the phone and typing on the computer.  She was almost done with the memo.  “Are you done yet?”

“Almost.”  Five minutes later CJ looked up at Chris.  “What did you need?”

“I have a question.”

“Okay, what is it?” asked CJ.  “And please don’t ask me something stupid.”

“When did I ever ask you something stupid?  I don’t ask stupid questions.”  CJ just gave a Chris a look.  “Okay.  But really this isn’t a stupid question.  Where’s my dad?”

“Tokyo,” replied CJ.  Chris just looked at CJ with an extremely confused look.

“Tokyo?” asked a puzzled Chris.

“Japan,” answered CJ.  She was unsure of what Chris was asking, so she took a guess.

“My dad is in Japan?”

“Yes.”

Chris jumped off the couch.  “I don’t believe this, my dad is in Japan!?  I mean what, did he wake up this morning and said ‘hey guys, I’m bored let’s go to Japan!’”

“No, he’s been planning the trip for a while now.”  CJ was a little frightened of Chris right now.

 “Oh, I see, he’s been planning it!  Well it might have been nice of him to tell his daughter before he decided to travel to the OTHER SIDE OF THE GLOBE!!”

“Chris, calm down.  I’m sure he told you, maybe you just forgot.”

“Hey, I forget things, I know, but I wouldn’t forget something like my father going to Japan!  Where’s my mom I’m gonna go rant to her about this!”

“She’s also in Japan.”  CJ regretted saying that, but she couldn’t lie.

“WHAT!?  THEY’RE BOTH IN JAPAN!?  I DON’T BELIEVE THIS!!  THEY WENT AND DIDN’T TELL THEIR DAUGHTER!!”

Before Chris could scream and yell any more, CJ interrupted her.  “Chris, as much as I would love to listen to you yell, I have to go to a meeting now.”

“OH GO AHEAD!  WHY’D YOU EVEN TELL ME!? NO ONE ELSE DOES!”  Chris then stormed out of the room, looking for someone else to yell at.  Her next victim just happened to be the next person she ran into.

“Good morning, Chris.”

“What’s so good about it!?  My parents are in Tokyo and didn’t even tell me they were going!  CJ’s too busy to talk to me!  I have no friends!  No one loves me!”

“I love you, Chris.”

“Toby, you do?  Then you’ll comfort me during this tragic time?”  Suddenly, she wasn't yelling as much.

“I would love to, but I have a meeting.”  That was a mistake.

“I HAVE NO FRIENDS!” yelled Chris as she stomped past Toby.

"Wow, someone really needs to stop giving that kid so much caffeine," mumbled Toby to himself as he watched the enraged Chris walk off.

"I don't believe them!  To think, they would forget to tell me!  That's it I'm never talking to them again!  End of story, from now on I'm mute.  Yep, they'll never hear me talk again," mumbled Chris to herself as she walked through the West Wing.

"Who will never hear you talk again?" asked Josh.  He passed her in the hallway and couldn't help over hearing her babbling.

"Josiah and Abigail Bartlet, President and First Lady of the United States who by the way didn't tell their youngest and most adorable daughter that they were going to Japan."

"You're calling your parents by their first names now, I see."

"Parents? WHAT PARENTS!?  PARENTS WOULDN'T GO TO TOYKO AND NOT TELL THEIR DAUGHTER!!"

"You know, I'm thinking that 'most adorable daughter' thing you just said earlier was false," he joked.

"Oh well, thanks for telling me that, Josh, cause now I feel even more hurt than I did before.  I HAVE NO FRIENDS!"  Chris walked past Josh and continued down the halls.  He decided to follow her and warn people before they confronted her.  "Why are you following me!?"

"I'm making sure you don't try to kill someone," he answered extremely serious.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to try to kill anyone.  The people I'd most like to do bodily harm to are in Toyko, Japan!"

"Chris, I'm surprised you didn't know your parents were going to Toyko, I mean Leo made sure to tell everyone."  After that comment, Chris stopped and just looked at Josh.  She didn't say anything.  Instead she turned and started walking in a different direction.  "I fear your next move," said Josh to himself.

Chris entered the "waiting room," as she liked to call, to Leo McGarry's office.  The room turned out to be empty.  "Where the hell is Margaret!?" she yelled to anyone who would care to listen.

"Did anyone happen to mention to you that Leo was also going to Toyko, and Margaret was going with?" asked Josh slowly and cautiously which turned out to be the dumbest thing he could have done.  He received a look of total destruction from the youngest Bartlet child.  "Gotta go."  He bolted out of the office at top speed and dared to not look back.

Josh ran into the Roosevelt Room for that morning's staff meeting with CJ, Toby, and Sam.  The four were pretty much left in charge while the president was in Japan, so they were discussing that day's plans.  They would have a meeting later with the rest of the staff.  The three people in the room waiting for Josh noticed he was out of breath and looked a little frightened.

"I see Josh had a run in with the always adorable Bartlet daughter," joked Toby.

"How'd...you...know?" asked Josh between breaths.

"Toby and I also had a little run-in with her," answered CJ for Toby.  Sam on the other hand was quite confused.

"What's up with Chris today?" asked Sam.

"That child is the definition of waking up on the wrong side of the bed," started Josh who finally had gotten most of his breath back.

"Why what's wrong with her?" asked Sam who was still confused.

"Well it seems that when the president and first lady planned their trip to Toyko, they forgot to tell someone," said CJ.

"They didn't?"

"Well, it seems as though Chris did not know her parents were going to Toyko until CJ told her this morning," clarified Toby.

"Well, I would be a little upset too," reasoned Sam.

"Yes, but she is way beyond 'a little upset.'  She claims she's never going to talk to them again.  Then when she found out that Leo told pretty much everyone about the trip, I swear had he not gone, we'd be taking him to a hospital right now.  She had a look of destruction in her eyes when I told her that," added in Josh.

"Well, Sam, I think I speak for all of us when I say try to avoid Christine Bartlet today," suggested Toby.  Josh and CJ nodded in agreement.  After the discussion of Chris, the staff went on to discuss other matters.

Meanwhile, Chris was still incredibly upset.  Most people tended to avoid her when they saw her in the hall.  Eventually, she reached her destination and found her next victim.  "Donna!  Donna!  Where are you!?"

"I'm right here, Chris," said Donna as she walked out of Josh's office.  "What's wrong with you?"

"Did you know that the president and first lady were going to Toyko today?"

"Yes, I knew that, and when did you stop calling them mom and dad?"

"As soon as I found out that they went to Japan and told everyone except me!"

"They didn't tell you?" asked a shocked Donna.

"Nooooo."

"Hm, that's weird."

"Yeah."  Donna didn’t say anything for a while.  Chris was starting to calm down and she took a seat in Josh's office.  Donna followed after her.

"Hey, Chris, they'll be home in a few days," tried Donna.

"Nice try on calming me, but it didn't work."

"I'm just saying."

"How could they go and not tell me?"

"Maybe they forgot."  Chris just glared at her.  "Or maybe...they..."

"Exactly!"

"Oh God, are you still in a killing mood?"

"Josh, shut up," answered Chris.  Josh was out of the meeting and was scared to see Chris in his office.

"Josh, she's a little upset right now," said Donna.

"Oh believe me, I know.  Chris, you know, most kids your age get excited when their parents go on a trip, not extremely pissed off," reasoned Josh.

"Most parents tell their children they're going on the trip before leaving," answered Chris.  

Before anyone else could say anything, the phone rang.  Donna answered it.  "Josh Lyman's office....Sure."  She handed Josh the phone.

"Hello?...Leo, are you sure that's a good idea?"  Chris's ears perked up when she heard the name Leo.

"Uncle Leo's on the phone?"  Donna nodded.  "Josh, let me talk to him!"

"No!....Not you, Leo, I was talking to Chris."

"Josh!  Let me talk to him!"

"No!...She's a little upset this morning....Why?....No one told her that you guys were going to Japan today...Are you sure?...Yeah, I'll take care of it...Bye....Here, Chris, he wants to talk to you."  Chris grabbed the phone, and Josh took Donna out in the hall to talk to her.  He figured it might be hard to talk to her over Chris's yelling.

"Hello, Uncle Leo."  Chris was usually more chipper when talking to people.

"Hey, Chris, listen it's my fault you didn't know your parents were going to Toyko."

"Oh really?"

"Yes, look, Chris, I'm sorry.  I was busy, and I forgot."

"Oh, I feel loved."

"I was waiting until the last minute to tell you.  I knew you'd want to go, and it'd be easier for me to tell you no because there was no time for you to get ready."

"That's a stupid reason.  Just for that I'm going to sneak into the press room today."

"Chris," he said using his fatherly tone.

"What?" she asked acting like she didn't know what the problem was.

"You know what happened last time you did that.  Don't think I wouldn't do it again."  He was referring to the last time Chris along with her friends went into the press room and asked CJ stupid questions.  Leo made all of them wash all the windows in the White House.

"Whatever."

"I really am sorry.  I'll make it up to you.  Next time, you'll be the first to know."  After he said that, Chris could hear Leo talking to someone, but she didn't know who.  "Chris, someone wants to talk to you."  
            

"Fine."  She was wishing this phone call would end already.

"Hello, kiddo."

"Hi, dad."

"Leo's stupid sometimes isn't he?"          

"Extremely."

"Hey, don't talk about your godfather like that," joked Jed.

"But, dad..."

"No buts."

"O.K."

"Sweetie, I'm sorry no one told you about this trip.  I'm sure you made sure to let everyone know how upset you were."

"Yes, I did."

"You should apologize."

"I will."

"Listen, I told Leo to wait till the last minute to tell you because I didn't want you to come on this trip.  I knew you'd want to come, but I also knew that you would be extremely bored on this trip.  I knew you'd have more fun bringing havoc to the West Wing.  So stop pouting and start bugging the Senior Staff."

"Dad, are you telling me what I think you're telling me?"

"Yes, go have fun," answered the president.

"Okay, but just remember you told me to."

"I will.  But don't cause too much trouble.  Have fun within limits, all right?"

"Yep." She was suddenly in a much better mood.

"Good, well I have to go, but either your mom or I will call again."

"Okay."

"Alright, bye, kiddo, love you."

"Bye, dad, love you too.  Give mom a hug for me!"

"I will."  Jed and Chris both hung up the phone. 

A few minutes after she hung up the phone Josh and Donna walked back in.  "You're off the phone?" asked Josh.  Chris nodded.  "There was no yelling?" She nodded again.  "Amazing."

"Whatever.  By the way, Josh, Donna, I apologize for flipping out earlier."  Chris then got up and left Josh's office.  Josh and Donna were both stunned.

"Kids," said Donna after a few minutes.

"Yeah," replied Josh.  The two then went on with their work.  

Chris's mood had made a sudden turn around, and everyone who saw the angry teenager 15 minutes ago were shocked to see a happy, cheerful teenager now.  Before having some fun, Chris decided she would follow her dad's orders and apologize to those she ranted at earlier.  CJ was in the morning press briefing, so Chris first went to find Toby. 

"Hey, Ginger!  What's Toby up to?"

"Hi...Chris...the usual, and I think avoiding you," stated Ginger slowly.  She had heard about Chris's mood and was afraid she may flip out.

"Well, then.  My dad said I have to talk to Toby, so is he in his office?"

"Yes, he is."

"Thanks, Ginger.  And don't worry, I'm not mad anymore."  Chris gave the aide a smile and proceeded into the Communication Director's office.  "Howdy-how, Toby-To!"

"Oh God.  Chris, I swear I had nothing to do with you not knowing your parents were going to Toyko.  I love you, but it's a busy day," said Toby who was not in the mood to listen to Chris complain again.

"I know you're busy.  I'm just here to say I'm sorry for flipping out earlier.  I was wrong, and I'm sorry."

"Talked to your father, huh?" he asked.  He knew she would only apology this fast if she was ordered to.

"Yep.  Well, anyhoo, I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted.  I wasn't really that mad at you anyway."

"I know, it's because you like me."

"That's right, and you tell anyone that I like you, I'll get you in trouble.  You'll be washing windows again."

"Okay, okay, I won't tell anyone."  Chris took a seat on Toby's couch.  He worked on a speech while she asked him what he was doing.  As she liked to do, Chris gave him her opinions on his writing.  He usually didn't listen to her, but she felt good thinking she helped.  She also watched CJ doing her press briefing.  Shortly after it ended, Chris went to look for her buddy the Press Secretary.  "See ya later, Toby-To."

"Bye, Chrissy-Chris."  He only used that nickname when he knew no one was listening.  He didn't want people thinking that he actually liked Chris.  

Like usual, the press herd stopped CJ in the hall to ask even more questions.  It was like she didn't answer all their questions during the briefing.  Chris laughed when she saw CJ being hounded with questions.  She thought that CJ should have some rule that if you don't ask your question during the briefing then it won't get answered till the next briefing.  However, CJ told her that that wouldn't be the smartest thing to do, it would make it look like the White House was trying to hide something.  Taking advantage of the herd, Chris went into CJ's office and sat down at the desk.  She then began typing at CJ's computer.  Shortly after she sat down, CJ walked in to find the Bartlet daughter who had flipped out last time she was in her office typing at the computer.

"Chris, what are you doing?" asked CJ sweetly not wanting to upset an already very angry teenager.  CJ hadn't heard that Chris was better now yet.

"Formatting your hard drive," answered a serious Chris who continued typing. 

"What?"

"Formatting your hard drive," replied Chris, slower this time so that CJ wouldn't get confused.  "Whoops, hope you didn't need that.....Oh and that one too....Oops, wrong button, hope you didn't have anything important on your computer."

"CHRIS!! WHAT DID YOU DO!?" yelled CJ with a look of fire in her eye.  "I don't care who's daughter you are!  I'll shoot you if you lost all my files!"  She started heading towards Chris looking murderous.

"Calm down, killer, I'm just checking my e-mail.  Look."  Chris showed the crazy Press Secretary her computer.  All that was on the screen was Chris's email inbox.  "Really, CJ, you should switch to De-Caf, and stop flipping out over everything."

"Me?  I flip out over everything!?  Look at you this morning, the whole staff thought you were going to kill someone."

"Yes, but I'm over that now, and besides it was all a big mix-up because my godfather can be pretty stupid and forgetful sometimes, you know, and he was just too busy to tell his super sweet and adorable goddaughter that he was going to Toyko today along with her two parents.  Her two parents who decided that it would be best if her godfather tell her that they were going to Toyko at the last minute just so that she wouldn't be able to go because they really didn't want to have to listen to their cute and adorable daughter complain about being bored in Japan for three days because they figured she'd have more fun annoying daddy's senior staff and keeping them in line while he was away.  So her father told her, who just happens to be the president and your boss, that she couldn't annoy his Senior Staff until she apologized to them for flipping out earlier, so I'm sorry for flipping out earlier it's all Uncle Leo's fault for not telling me, had he told me in the first place that everyone was going to Toyko then I wouldn't have flipped out earlier.  Anyhoo, I also apologize for playing that whole formatting your hard drive joke I guess I was just starting the annoy the Senior Staff thing a little early."  During Chris's babbling in which she was talking a mile-a-minute, CJ just sat on the couch and watched with one eyebrow raised.  She had heard from the teenager's father, that sometimes Chris babbled just to drive people nuts, but this was the first time CJ was experiencing it first hand.  If someone were to ask CJ what Chris just said, she would only be able to say it was about Leo, Toyko, and apologizing cause those three words were used numerous times.

"Did you just apologize?" asked CJ after a few moments of silence.

"Yeppers," responded the little babbler as she continued reading her e-mail.

"Okay, apology accepted."  CJ then picked up a memo and began reading it like nothing had just happened.

Eventually CJ needed her computer and desk back, so Chris left her office.  She decided to go find someone else to annoy.  After a little bit of wandering around aimlessly, she realized that she hadn’t done anything to Sam that day.  Sam was in his office at his desk reading some sort of file.  Chris quietly walked into his office, grabbed the file, and ran down the hall.

“Hey! Chris come back here with that!!” yelled Sam as he ran after the teenager in the West Wing.

“Come and get it, Samuel!”  Chris was running and not totally paying attention to where she was going.  She began descending down a flight of stairs; she turned to see where Sam was, lost her balance, and fell down the stairs.

“Well, that will teach you to steal people’s thing,” stated Sam smugly as he looked at Chris at the bottom of the stairs.

“Owwww,” she whined.

“You’re not going to make me feel guilty.”

“No, really, Sam, I’m in pain.  I can’t move my leg!”

“Oh shit!”

“Yeah, I need some medical attention, stat!” she yelled while grabbing her leg in pain.

Jason came along and saw Chris and Sam.  He got on his radio and arranged for a ride to the hospital.  Meanwhile Sam went to find…someone.  He ran down the halls looking for anyone.  “Toby!  Toby!”

“Not now, Sam, I’m busy!” stated Toby as he walked away from Sam.

“Chris fell down the stairs.”  That statement caused the Communications Director to stop and look at his deputy.  

“How?”

“She tripped and fell.  Secret Service is getting a ride to the hospital for her now.”  As they were talking Sam was leading Toby to the location of the accident.  At the staircase, Chris was sitting on the floor moaning in pain.

“Chris, how are you?” asked Toby.

“It hurts!”

“Yeah, I would expect it would.  The Secret Service will take you to the hospital.”

“Toby, I don’t want to go by myself!” she whined.

“Well, the Secret Service will be with you,” brought up Sam.

“But I want someone else to go with me.”

“Well, Sam and I can’t, kid.”

“What about Donna?” asked Chris.

“She’s at the Hill with Josh,” replied Sam. 

“She never goes to the Hill with Josh!!”

“Yeah, well, today she did,” answered Toby.

“What about CJ?”

“We’re ready to take her,” said Jason as he walked up with two agents ready to carry the first child to the car.

“Toby,” whined Chris giving him a puppy dog look.  Sam and Toby just looked at each other.

“You can do the briefing if she’s not back in time?” asked Toby looking at Sam.

“I’ll go get CJ and have her meet you in the car.”  Sam left to find CJ.  He gave her the shortened version of the story, and before she knew it she was in a car with a very upset teenager on the way to the hospital.

CJ’s job was to call the West Wing as soon as she found out about Chris’s condition.  That way Toby would be able to call Tokyo and fill Leo in on what happened.  Also they’d have something to tell the press if they asked during the briefing because with their luck someone from the press knows what happened.

Once at the hospital, a doctor quickly saw Chris, and she was then taken to x-ray.  CJ stayed with Chris as much as she could.  While she was in x-ray, Chris couldn’t be accompanied by CJ.

“Ms. Cregg?” called the doctor.

“Yes?” CJ stood up to greet the doctor.

“I’m Dr. Wood, I’m Christine Bartlet’s doctor.”

“Yes, I know.  How is she?”

“Well, she did indeed break her leg.  Luckily it was a clean break, so a cast is being put on her leg now.  Her leg should heal nicely.”

“How long with the cast?”

“Six to eight weeks.”

“Okay, thank you, doctor.”

“You can go in and see her if you’d like,” stated the doctor pointing her in the direction of the room where Chris was.

“I just need to make a quick phone call.”  The doctor showed CJ to a phone and then told her where Chris was.  CJ dialed the White House and was soon talking to Toby.  “Toby, it’s me…Yeah, it’s broken…six to eight weeks…It was a clean break, and it should heal nicely…She’s getting the cast on now…Sam should be getting ready for the briefing…Good.  When are you going to tell Leo?…Okay but just remember that it is about 3 o’clock in the morning in Tokyo, and this isn’t exactly a huge emergency…I’m just saying it could wait until it’s morning for them…Okay, I’ll go…Bye.” 

CJ hung up the phone and went to find Chris.  The doctor was just about done putting on her cast.  Also, Chris was no longer in as much pain thanks to her newly prescribed pain pills.  Ahh, the miracle of drugs.  Only two and a half-hours after the whole accident, Christine Bartlet and CJ Cregg were on their way back to the White House.  As they had suspected, the press knew about Chris’s fall.  Sam gave them a brief answer.  Soon, CJ was pushing Chris’s wheelchair up into the West Wing.

“Hey, you’re back, how ya feeling?”

“All right, now that I have pain medication,” answered Chris as she showed Donna her newly prescribed pain medication.

“Well, that’s always nice,” answered Donna smiling at Chris.

“Hey, Donna, CJ can you two sign my cast please?” Chris smiled at Donna then looked up at CJ who was still behind her wheelchair and smiled.

“Sure,” responded Donna as she grabbed a marker.

“Of course,” answered CJ.  Both of them signed Chris’s cast.  In about an hour, Josh, Sam, Ginger, Bonnie, Kathy, Jason, and Toby had also signed her cast with messages saying, “Get well soon” and happy faces.

Chris had been back from the hospital for only about 40 minutes.  She was starting to get better at pushing herself around the White House.  Sometimes people would push her, but she also wanted to be able to push herself.  She rolled past CJ’s office and heard some yelling, so she decided to eavesdrop.  Hey, the door was open!

“No!”

“CJ!”

“Toby, no!  It would just be a stupid move!  I’m not going to do it!”

“Fine then don’t do it!”

“NO ONE should do it!”

“Something has to be done about it!”

“I know that, but now is the stupidest time to do it!”  Chris quietly rolled her way into the office.  Neither one of them was facing the door, so her actions went unnoticed.

After a few more rounds of shouting back and forth, Chris spoke up and made her presence known.  “You know, you two should really start dating because you already sound like you’re married.”  The Press Secretary and Communications Director turned and glared at Chris.

“Chris, SHUT UP!” yelled both of them at the same time.

“Well, excuse me, for trying to help.  I’ll just go now.”  Chris solemnly began to roll out of the office.  A slight squeaking of wheels could be heard.  Seeing as though she was still getting used to pushing herself around, she had problems leaving.  “Ow..” mumbled Chris when she hit the wall.  Toby and CJ watched her.  “Owie,” she mumbled again as she connected with the wall.  She was about to hit the wall a third time, when Toby grabbed her chair.

“Oh, for God’s sake!”  Toby grabbed the chair and gave her a heavy push out the door.

“Weeeee….ow,” said Chris as she ran once again into a wall but this time out of CJ’s office.  Toby closed CJ’s office door once he knew Chris was okay.  “Hey, Ginger.”

"Hey, Chris.  What you do this time?" asked Ginger as she pulled Chris away from the wall.

"I just told Toby and CJ that they should start dating cause they sound like they're married.  It was innocent!" defended Chris.

"Ah, I see," answered Ginger.  "Maybe you should go do something else for a little bit, huh?"

"Yeah, how about I sit with you a bit?"

"Sure."  Ginger wheeled Chris over to her desk in the Communications Bullpen.  They spent time together talking, and Ginger did her job.  Chris helped out by typing some things up for Ginger.  Toby came back to his office about 45 minutes later, and he looked pretty crabby.  He just gave Chris a look and walked away.  Neither one of them knew what Chris had done besides joke around with him and CJ earlier, but he usually didn't give her such dirty looks.  Chris didn't let it bother her, and she decided she'd go say something to CJ.  Ginger offered to bring her to CJ's office, but Chris said she wanted to try and get there herself.

Now if you were to walk from Toby's office to CJ's office, it would take you a minute, however, Chris was still not use to rolling herself places and it took her a while to get to where she wanted to go.  She was almost to CJ's office when Danny walked past.

"Hey, Chris, how you doing?" he asked.  Technically the press wasn't suppose to talk to the president's daughter, but Danny would never write about anything he talked about with Chris.  Also, she tended to talk to whomever she wanted to, regardless of rules.

"Hey, Danny.  I'm all right.  My leg is starting to hurt a bit, and it's taken me 15 minutes to go from Toby's office to here."  She was extremely frustrated and wishing she never fell down the stairs.

"Well, that sucks.  You want me to push you to where ever you're headed to?"  

"Yeah, I'm trying to see CJ."  

"Okay."  He got behind Chris and pushed her over into CJ's office.  

CJ was working on her laptop, so they waited for her to notice them.  After a few minutes, she realized she was being watched and looked up at her visitors.  "Well, if it isn't the little matchmaker and freakboy."

"Hey CJ," greeted both Danny and Chris.

"Hello, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to say that I was sorry about what I said earlier, even if I do think it's true."  

"You think what's true?" asked Danny.

"That Toby and I should start dating because I believe we sound like we're married," answered CJ for Chris.

"Yep," smiled Chris.  Danny just nodded.  

"And now that you've apologized, you can leave now."  Chris started to move her chair.     "Danny did you need something?"  

"Yeah, CJ, I had a question."

"What..."

"Okay, who's the funny boy that put the brakes on?" yelled Chris after a while because as it turned out she hadn't moved yet.  Danny smiled at CJ who tried to control her laughter.  "DANNY!  Take them off NOW!" She was starting to get crabby.  She was in pain, couldn't take her pain pills again for about an hour, and wasn't in the mood for jokes.  He did as she ordered, and she left the office.

"That was good, Danny.  I'll have to try that sometime," said CJ after she knew Chris was out of earshot.

"You do, and you'll be going on a date with Toby!" yelled Chris who was hiding right outside the door.  Danny closed the door and began talking to CJ.

Chris was crabby.  She had a broken leg, her pain pills stopped working, she was in a wheelchair, Danny played a mean joke on her, everyone was too busy for her, and her parents were in Toyko!  What the heck was she supposed to do with her time?  She could always go play N64 or on the computer, but it was so lonely up in her room.  No one was up there except cleaners and Secret Service agents.  That would definitely not be any fun.  She decided to just sit in the hallway and watch the people go by.  Also she was trying to get people to sign her cast.  

Toby was on his way to a meeting with a few senators.  He walked down the hall rather quickly just so that he wouldn't be late.  As he was walking, he suddenly felt the bottom part of his pants get a little wet.  He didn't think much of it and kept walking.  Sam at one point also felt his pants get wet, but he was late so he didn't think twice about it.  Later, after his meeting, Toby's pants got wet again.  This time he stopped to see what could have caused that.  When he turned and looked, he saw Chris sitting in the corner.  She appeared to be reading a book.  He walked back to her and looked down at her.  She smiled up at him, and he smiled back.

"Hello, Toby, lovely day isn't it?"

"Not really, it seems to be a bit rainy today."

"That's odd, I swore the sun was shining earlier."

"Me too.  What are you doing?" he asked not wanting to make any more small talk.

"Me?"

"No, the other gimp in a wheelchair."

"Okay, that was just rude."

"Stop goofing with me."  He looked around and noticed that Chris was hiding her hand.  He pulled up her arm, and in doing so, Chris dropped a water gun that she had been holding in her hand.  "Having fun?"

"Yes, I am.  Do you know I've been sitting here for an hour and a half, and you're the first person to figure out that it was me getting everyone wet.  Pretty cool, huh?"

"Oh yeah, it's wonderful.  You want me to give you some advice?" he asked.

"Sure."  She wouldn't mind some advice from Toby.

"Go find something else to do before I call up Leo and tell him everything that you have done since he left this morning.  It's 5 o'clock in the morning in Japan, so he should be waking up soon.  Finding out that his goddaughter has a broken leg should be a great way for him to start his day."  Chris just stared up at Toby then began to wheel away.  She had gotten better at that rolling herself thing.  He had her water gun, but she just let him keep it.

Pretty much everyone in the West Wing that Monday had had an encounter with Christine Bartlet.  Toby was on his way back to his office after his latest encounter.  CJ stopped in the hallway because she was wondering what he was doing.  "Toby, why are you carrying a water gun?"  He looked down at his hand.  He had forgotten that he never gave it back to Chris.  He sighed heavily before answering his friend.

"Chris was having fun squirting unsuspecting people as they passed her.  I took the gun from her, and I guess I forgot to give it back."

"You know, the president has been gone one day, and already I'm ready to hurt her."

"Yeah, but Sam already took care of that."

"In a way.  Speaking of which did you tell Leo yet?"

"No, I was going to call in about an hour, but I figure he should be calling soon anyway."

"Yeah, so do you think we could send Chris to New Hampshire for the next few days?" whispered CJ just in case anyone was listening to them.

"I wouldn't object to it," responded Toby with a whisper and smile.

"I don't really want to go to New Hampshire," whispered another voice.

"Jesus, Chris!  How is that you are always hearing our conversations?" whispered CJ.

"I'm good...why are we whispering?" asked Chris still whispering.

"Chris do everyone a favor, alright?  Go up to the Residence for a few hours, and if you do that the Senior Staff and I will give you a special treat," said Toby talking regular now.

"Really?" she asked excited.

"Yes," answered CJ hoping she would agree to it.

"Can we have a Senior Staff sleepover?"

"A what?" asked Toby.

"A Senior Staff sleepover.  Everyone could stay at the Residence tonight!  It would be fun!"

"I don't think so."

"But Toby my parents are in Toyko!  I'll be the only one up there tonight!  It'll be lonely."

"Chris, if you go upstairs now and stay there, then maybe Donna and I will stay here tonight," suggested CJ who really did like Chris but just wanted to get her work done.

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, thanks CJ!  But I still want my special treat from the whole staff!" yelled Chris as she rolled back to the Residence.  As she was heading over there, Jason met up with her and pushed her back to her room.  She stayed in her room watching TV and sleeping while waiting for the Senior Staff to come get her.

Meanwhile, the staff was able to get quite a bit of work done.  At about 6 o'clock, Leo called to talk to Josh.  He asked how everything was going, and Josh mentioned that Toby needed to talk to Leo.  Toby was the one chosen to inform the Chief of Staff about Chris's fall that morning.  "Hello, Leo," spoke Toby once he picked up the phone.

"Hello, so what crisis do we have now?" asked Leo.

"It's not really a crisis, just something you should know," said Toby.

"What is it?"

"This morning Chris was running down the stairs when she trip and fell...down the stairs."

"Is she okay?"  Leo was concerned about his goddaughter.

"Yeah, last I heard she was sleeping.  She did break her leg though, it was a clean break and should heal nicely in about six to eight weeks."

"So she's doing fine?  I can tell the President and First Lady that?"

"Yeah, she's fine.  Trust me."

"She was bugging the hell out of you guys today wasn't she?"

"Yeah, and since the cast goes above her knee, she's currently in a wheelchair...makes things even more fun."

"Well, I hope you're enjoying yourselves.  I have to go tell the Bartlets about Chris.  We'll be back Wednesday."  Leo hung up the phone and went to find Jed and Abbey.  "Hey, Charlie, are the President and First Lady in there?"  Leo pointed to their hotel door.

"Yes they are.  I think they're just finishing breakfast," answered Charlie the President's personal aide.

"Could you tell them that I need to talk to them really quick."

"Sure."  Charlie disappeared into the room and returned shortly later telling Leo that he could go talk to the Bartlets.

"Good morning, Leo," greeted Abbey.

"Good morning."

"What did you need?" asked the president.

"I just got off the phone with Toby."

"What happened now?"

"Well, nothing having to do with the political world."

"So what is it?" asked Abbey.

"Chris fell down the stairs," stated Leo.

"Is she all right?" exclaimed Jed.

"She's fine, she broke her leg and is in a wheelchair.  But in six to eight weeks her leg should heal."

"Okay," answered Abbey.

"Is she causing hell for the Senior Staff?" asked Jed who knew how his daughter sometimes got when she was in pain.

"From what I can tell, she did enough.  She was eventually sent to her room and is sleeping now."

"Thank you, Leo," said Abbey, and Leo took that as his cue to leave.

"So she broke her leg, huh?" asked Jed.

"That she did...Listen, Jed, she's probably in a very bad mood now, so I think as soon as we can, we should head back to DC."

"I agree."  The two finished their breakfast and went on to do that day's events.

Back at the White House, everyone was finishing up that day's work and started heading out the door.  Toby told Sam, Josh, and Donna that they had to stay later for a meeting.  The real reason they had to stay was because Toby and CJ had promised Chris a special treat if she stayed in the Residence the rest of the day.  No one had seen her for hours.  At 7:30, Sam, Josh, Donna, and CJ walked into Toby's office.

"So what's this meeting about?" asked Sam who was just as curious as Josh and Donna.

"Toby, why don't you tell them," suggested CJ.

"Fine.  You're not here for a meeting."

"Then why are we here?" questioned Josh.

"I told Chris that if she went up to the Residence for a few hours and left everyone alone, then we would give her a special treat."

"You bribed her?" asked Sam.

"Yes he did.  So since we haven't seen Gimpy for hours, we have to figure out how to treat her," said CJ.  Everyone in the room was quiet while they thought for a little bit.

"Why don't we buy her something?" suggested Sam.

"Like what?" asked Donna.

"I don't know."

"Yeah, so bad idea," said CJ.

"Why don't we just take her out for dinner?"  The staff thought about Josh's suggestion for a little bit and agreed on it.

A half-hour later, Josh, Sam, Toby, CJ, Donna, and Chris were all in a car on their way to a restaurant in DC.  Bobbie was also with them.  Chris was excited about being able to have dinner with her father's Senior Staff.  When they arrived at the restaurant, Josh went to get Chris's wheelchair out of the trunk.  However when they put it in the car, they must have done something to it because it wouldn't open.

"That's okay, I'll just hop in."  Chris tried to get out of the car.  Pretty soon she was standing next to the car on one foot.

"Oh for God's sake," mumbled Toby.  He walked over to Chris and picked her up in his arms.

"Oh, Toby.  And I.... will always looooooove yoooooou," sang Chris.  Once they realized what she was doing, CJ, Donna, Josh, Bobbie, and Sam started laughing.

"Shut up, Chris," sad Toby sternly.

"Shutting up."

So far dinner had been pretty good.  They had just gotten their drinks, and they had already ordered their food.  Chris had a Sprite to drink, which was her favorite soda.

"Sucking down gargeely with Marie Antoinette and her little sister," impersonated Chris.

"What are you doing?" asked Sam.

"Don't you get it!? Don't you see the hat!?  I am Mrs. Nesbitt!"

"Riiight," said Josh who did not get it at all, though he wasn't the only one.

"It's from Toy Story, boys," spoke up Donna who knew what Chris was doing.  CJ also knew what she was doing.

"Okay, that soda has no caffeine in it right?" asked Sam.

"Not an ounce!" replied Chris.  Not much was said for a little bit, it was mainly just small talk.  Shortly after their food arrived, they started talking about Chris's broken leg and her parents.  "My mom and dad are gonna be so mad..." said Chris imitating one of the killers from Scream.

"Okay, so we'll hold on to your meal until you've calmed down a little bit," said Toby taking her dinner away from her.  

"Hey!"  Josh and Sam laughed, and the other ladies at the table gave Chris a sympathetic look.  "Double burger.  Double burger.  I gotta have a double burger."  Bobbie, CJ, and Donna started laughing when Chris started quoting from _Good Will Hunting_.

"Will you shut the hell up?  I know what you ordered!  I was there!" exclaimed Toby.  Chris was shocked and taken aback at the fact that he knew what she was doing and was playing along.  She quickly continued reciting lines.

"So why don't you give me my sandwich?"

"'Your sandwich?'  I bought it!  How much money you got?"

"I set out your change, right.  Why don't you just give me my sandwich, and stop being a jerk!?"  Everyone at the table was laughing, and Chris and Toby were trying hard not to laugh also.

"Alright, well, give me your 16 cents that you got on you now, and we'll put your friggin sandwich on lay away.  There we go."  Toby moved Chris's plate over to the side of the table more out of her reach.  "Keep it right up here for ya, and we'll put you on a program.  Every day you come in with your six cents, and at the end of the week you get your sandwich."

"Don't be a jerk..."

"What am I?  Your friggin sandwich welfare?  I think you should establish a good line of credit.  Like how you bought your couch.  Remember?  Your mother brought in ten dollars every day for a year...she finally got a couch rent-a-center style."

"Can I have my food now, please?"

"Here's your friggin double burger!"  Toby put the plate back in front of Chris, and everyone at the table just started laughing.  They found it hillarious that they knew so much of it, and the fact that Toby knew it at all was great.

"How did you know all that, Toby?" asked CJ once things calmed down.

“Well, we all know how much Chris watches that movie.  I've seen it a fair share of times."

"Also, Toby and I use to recite that part in the movie.  I was just shocked that he remembered it," added Chris.  Toby nodded.  Everyone else was just shocked that they used to recite that part, and they never knew it.

Shockingly, the rest of dinner they were all pretty normal and calm.  They just ate and had somewhat normal conversations.  When the waitress came to ask what they wanted for dessert, things changed.  "I'll have the Jell-o," requested Sam.

"Suddenly he realizes he doesn't want Crème Brule," started Chris.

"What does he want?" jumped in Donna.

Chris paused before answering, everyone including the waitress just looked at her.  "Jell-o."

"Jell-o!?  Why does he want Jell-o!?"

"Because he's comfortable with Jell-o!"

"I could be Jell-o."

"No, Crème Brule can never be Jell-o."

"I have to be Jell-o."

"You're never gonna be Jell-o!" yelled Chris.  Her and Donna started laughing, and CJ and Bobbie soon joined in because they had also seen _My Best Friend's Wedding_.  

"Yeah, so they won't have anything with sugar in it," said Josh pointing to Chris and Donna.

"I'll have vanilla ice cream," said Chris sticking her tongue out at Josh.

"I'll have chocolate ice cream," ordered Donna giving Josh a smug look.

After dessert, they all got ready to leave.  Josh paid the bill, and Toby carried Chris out to the car.  She started singing "I Will Always Love You" again and this time Toby sang along.  Back at the White House, the staff stayed with Chris and watched some movies.  Sam, Josh, and Toby went home after the first movie, but CJ and Donna stayed the night to keep Chris company.

Tuesday, December 21   

Chris was pretty tired and groggy must of the day because of her pain medication.  She mainly stayed up in her room watching TV.  Also she couldn't get around the White House at first anyway because her wheelchair was being fixed.  Around 6 that evening, her wheel chair was fixed, and Chris felt energized.  Seeing as though the work day was technically over and her parents would be home in the morning, Chris went down to the West Wing.  She ran into CJ and told her about how she wanted to have some fun.  At first CJ wouldn't do it, but once Donna joined in they decided to have some fun.  The three went into the Oval Office and were joined by Toby, Sam, and Josh who wanted to see them.  They were going to put on a little performance.  They were redoing a scene from a movie that the girls had watched the night before.

"You don't own me.  I'm not just one of your many toys," sang Chris to her small audience.

"You don't own me.  Don't say I can't go with other boys," sang Donna.

"Bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, baa," sang all three of them together.

"And don't tell me what to do," continued Chris.

"And don't tell me what to say," sang Donna.  
 

"And when I go out with you, don't put me on display," sang CJ.  

"Pretty good," said Donna.

"I'm impressed," said Chris.  In case you haven't figured it out yet, the three of them were redoing the scene in _The First Wives' Club_ where Bette Midler (Chris), Goldie Hawn (Donna), and Diane Keaton (CJ) sang the song "You Don't Own Me."  Toby, Sam, and Josh were getting the biggest kick out of it.

"You don't own me.  Don't try to change me in any way," all three of them sang together.  "You don't own me.  Don't drag me down cause I'll never stay."

"I don't tell ya what to say," sang Chris.  The three began dancing a little bit having a blast while the guys cheered them on.

"I don't tell you what to do," sang Donna.

"So just let me be myself," declared CJ.

"That's all I ask of you!" The three were singing together again.  "I'm young, and I love to be young.  I'm free, and I love to be free!  To live my life the way that I want, to say and do whatever I please!"

"I'm young!" ~ Chris.

"I'm young!" ~ CJ.

"And I love to be young!" ~ Donna.

"I'm free!" ~ CJ.

"I'm free!" ~ Donna.

"And I love to be free!" ~ Chris.

"To live my life the way that I want, to say and do whatever I please!" ~ All.  

You see the thing was, while they were singing, their backs were to the door.  Shortly before that last part, the president, first lady, Leo, Margaret, Mrs. Landingham, and Charlie all walked in. Toby, Josh, and Sam saw them, but didn't want to tell the "singers."  They all just laughed while the president and crew looked on (they were also laughing).  Chris noticed Sam looking behind her.  She did a quick turn around, which wasn't super quick considering she was in a wheelchair, and screamed when she saw the six people that were standing behind her.  CJ and Donna turned around after they heard Chris scream, and they just wanted to die.

"Having a party, I see?" asked the president with a huge smile.

"Uh, sir..." started CJ trying to explain herself.  She didn't know how though.

"Sup, everyone?  Wanna join us?" asked Chris hoping she wouldn't get yelled at.  "Aww, nevermind, the song's all over."

"Darn," said Jed.

"Hey, I was just thinking, why are you home so early?" asked Chris who was the first that realized it.

"We thought our daughter would be crabby and bringing hell to the staff here, I guess we were wrong," said Abbey.

Chris smiled.  "Are you mad?" That question was in a way on everyone's mind.

"No," answered Jed.  "I told you have to fun.  This is within my limits. Donna, CJ, you can breath again, you're not going to lose your jobs or anything."

"Thank you, Mr. President," answered both of them.

"We should get back to work," said Josh.

"Yeah," answered Sam and Toby as they walked out of the office.  CJ, Donna, Mrs. Landingham, Margaret, and Charlie soon followed after them.

"Well, I guess you're doing okay," said Abbey talking to her daughter about her recent injury.

"Of course she is, she's acting like a kid, as usual," said Leo.  Abbey and Jed laughed.  
            

"I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid!" sang Chris.

"Thank you for that information," said Jed dryly.  Chris smiled widely at her father.

"So were you at all crabby after the incident?" asked Leo.

"I was not."

"Oh give me a break, Chris," said Abbey who knew better than that.

"Give me a break! Give me a break!  Break me a off a piece of that Kit-Kat bar!"  The three adults just looked at her.  "Okay so maybe I was a little bit.  But the pain medication changed that."

"Alright.  Why don't you go up to your room?" suggested Abbey.

"Okay."  Chris began to roll her chair out of the office.  "Grey skies are gonna clear up.  Put on a happy face.  Brush off the clouds and cheer up.  Put on a happy face.  We're rolling back prices all over the place!  So put on a happy face!"  Leo, Abbey, and Jed just looked at her.  They couldn't believe she was singing the Wal-Mart jingle.

"She is an odd child isn't she?" asked Leo.

"Yes, she is.  Abbey, we have four daughters, three of them are normal...where did we go wrong with the last one?" joked Jed.

"I honestly don't know.  Maybe she got too many of your genes."

"Funny."  The three adults laughed.

Chris was indeed a "special" kid.  She always did something to shock people and make them laugh.  She was a fun-loving kid, and everyone liked her.  She knew pretty much everyone, and they knew her.  She was one popular person.  All the workers were however preparing themselves.  In a week, Chris's three friends from New Hampshire were coming for New Year's, and the four of them always made things interesting.  But that's another story.  Until next time!

The End


	3. Other Daughter, The 3

**The Other Daughter ~ Happy New Year!**

**by:** CrazyChris 

**Disclaimer:** The West Wing belongs to NBC and Aaron Sorkin.  This is for entertainment purposes only.  No copyright infringement is intended.  It's just for fun and I'm just borrowing the characters.  
**Category:** New Character, General, AU  
**Rating:** YTEEN  
**Summary:** What if the Bartlets had a 17 year old daughter living with them at the White House?  Here's what could go on.  
**Author's Notes:** I’m thinking about turning this into a series.  Please, please, tell me if I should or not!  Let me know if you like this story, and remember it’s just for fun.  Please send feedback! 

* * *

Wednesday, December 29

New Year’s Eve was only two days away, and today Christine Bartlet’s three friends from New Hampshire would be coming.  She was extremely excited because she hadn’t seen her friends for about a month.  Also, this was going to be the first New Year’s Eve she’d be spending at the White House.  She had actually arranged for the party at the White House.  She received some help from her mom who thought it was a good idea.  Many people that worked for the president were going to be at the party because they had no other plans that night, and Chris was very persistent when she invited them.

About a week ago, Chris fell down the stairs and broke her leg.  She unfortunately had to get around in a wheelchair.  She didn’t mind that much because she was usually able to find a nice person that would push her around.  Right now it was about 11:30 in the morning.  Her friends would be coming in the afternoon around 3:30.  Zoey, Chris’s older sister, was going to meet Chris’s friends at the airport.

Chris was currently 17 years old and was a junior in high school.  She was the youngest in her family with three older sisters.  Elizabeth, the oldest, had a daughter named Annie.  Ellie, short for Eleanor, was next in line, and she was currently attending John Hopkins studying to be a doctor.  Next was Zoey who was in her first year of college at Georgetown.  Chris was the only daughter in her family that lived in the White House, and she loved it.

Chris in many ways took after her father.  First of all, she looked a lot like him except her hair was darker in color.  Her father and her had very similar personalities, too.  Just like he lived a life of politics, she planned to follow in his footsteps.

She didn’t have school because of Christmas break, so she was trying to find something to do.  Her sister was with their mom, and Chris didn’t want to bug them.  She decided to find someone to talk to and knew the perfect person to go see.

“Hey, Margaret!  What’s up?” greeted Chris as she walked up to the secretary’s desk. 

“Hi, Chris,” answered Margaret sounding extremely worn-out. 

“What’s wrong, you sound tired.  My Uncle Leo isn’t working you too hard is he?”

“No.  I’m tired, but it’s not because Leo is working me too hard.  I didn’t sleep too well last night.  Someone broke into the apartment next to me, so I had a lot of trouble sleeping.”

“Aw, that sucks.  You should have spent the night at someone else’s place.”

“I thought of that but decided not to.”

“Well, I tell you what.  My friends are coming today, and tonight we’re hanging with CJ and Donna.  You’re welcome to come.”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“You won’t.  The more the merrier!”  Chris gave Margaret a big smile.

“You won’t mind?”

“Nope.”

“Okay, I’ll come.”

“Cool.” The two then talked about that night’s plans until Leo came and had Margaret start working like crazy.  Chris believed that he did that to get back at her for making him sign all those Christmas cards a week ago.  Since everyone was busy with work, Chris decided to go have lunch.

Jason brought Chris into the dining room in the residence.  She asked the cook for a ham and cheese sandwich, some potato chips, a cookie, and a glass of milk.  Shortly after Dylan, the cook, went to prepare her lunch, the president walked in for his lunch.

“Yo, Josiah!” exclaimed Chris once he walked through the door.  He, in response, just stopped and looked at her.

“Did you just say ‘Yo, Josiah’?” he asked.

“Yes, I believe I did.”

“Why?”

“It seemed like the right thing to do.”

“O…K…I’m going to sit and have my lunch now.”

“Okay.”  

Cassidy, another cook, brought in Jed’s lunch.  She put it down and quickly left.  “Oh, Jesus, what is this?” he exclaimed once he saw it.

“That would be a salad, dad.”

“Thank you, Sherlock,” he answered sarcastically.  “It’s the holiday season! Can’t I have something good to eat?”

“Hmmm, my guess would be no.”

“All right, I think it’s time for you to shut up now.”  He picked at his food while she waited patiently for hers.  Dylan finally came with it, and the president was jealous when he saw what she was having.  “Is that a ham and cheese sandwich?”

“Yep.”  She took a bite out of it, and he was practically drooling over it.

“Chris, I know you like salads, wanna trade lunches?”

“Now, dad, don’t you think that if I wanted to have a salad for lunch I would have asked for one in the first place.”

“Why is that you can choose what you eat, but I can’t?”

“I don’t know, maybe I’m just luckier.”

“Yeah,” mumbled Jed.  He slowly began to eat his salad while his daughter enjoyed the lunch of her choice.  She did feel a little sorry for him and gave him one of her chocolate chip cookies.  He was grateful for that.  At least his whole lunch didn’t suck.  She did tell him to look on the bright side though. Since her friends were coming that evening, Dylan was making pizza, so Jed would probably be able to sneak in a few slices.

During the rest of lunch, neither Chris nor her dad talked that much.  Both were lost in their thoughts.  He was thinking about whatever it was that was going on in the world that day.  She on the other hand was thinking about the things she could do when her friends were visiting.  Also she was thinking about the New Year’s Eve party in a few days. 

Shortly after Jed left the dining room, Chris finished her lunch.  Her friends wouldn’t be coming for another couple hours, so she decided she’d go see what was going on in the west wing.  Josh, Leo, and Sam were all at different meetings somewhere.  CJ was doing a press briefing, so that left Toby.  He was in his office typing vigorously at his computer.  Chris wheeled in unnoticed and stopped near his couch.  He was working on a speech the president was going to be giving in about a week.  He was presenting the speech at a school in Pennsylvania, and it was about education reforms.   Chris looked at some of Toby’s other drafts that were sitting on the table in front of the couch, and she began reading some.

“Hmm, this is pretty good, did you leave this in? ‘Each day many children are born, and our population is growing.  We need to make sure that in the future there will be enough schools and teachers so that our children can learn.  The future is coming up quicker than we think, and the time to make changes is now.”  When she first started speaking, Toby looked up shocked because he didn’t know that anyone else was in the room.

“How long have you been here?” he asked before answering her question.

“About fifteen minutes,” she answered.  “You were pretty engrossed when I walked in, so I tried not to bother you.”

“I see.  Well to answer your question, I left that idea in the speech, but changed some of the wording.”

“To make it sound more sophisticated?”

“Something like that.”

“Hm, interesting.  Well good luck.”

“Thanks.”  He continued working on the speech while she read over more of his earlier drafts.  She found it amazing how different one could be from the other.  He was a great writer, and she loved to read his work.  Whenever he had time, he would read over some of Chris’s essays for school and help her with her writing.  

When she was just about done reading his most recent draft, CJ walked in the office.  “Hey, Toby, Chris.”

“Hey, CJ!” greeted Chris first.

“Hi,” answered Toby from behind his desk.  He continued typing away trying to finish the speech.

“How are you, Chris?” said CJ taking a seat next to her.  She wanted to ask Toby something but figured it could wait till he was done.

“I’m okay.  My friends should be here in about an hour.  I’m looking forward to that.”

“We still on for tonight?”

“Yep.  In fact speaking of tonight, you guys wouldn’t mind if Margaret joined us would you?”  CJ tried to answer, but Chris continued talking.  “Cuz last night someone robbed the apartment next to her, and she really doesn’t want to spend a night alone, and I think we should let her stay with us instead of being at her home.  One more person shouldn’t cause a problem, and it’s Margaret how much trouble could she cause?  She’s really nice and fun and I’m…”

“CHRIS!  SHUT UP AND LET CJ ANSWER YOU!!” yelled Toby who was about to strangle her to stop her babbling.  He noticed that CJ was trying to speak but was having problems interrupting Chris’s rambling.

“Sowwy.”

“It’s fine if Margaret comes tonight.  Why you asked I don’t really know because I can tell that you already told her to come.”

“Yeah, I did, but you know, I was just trying to be nice and give ya a heads up.”

“Thanks, Chris.”

“No problem, CJ.  Now if you’ll both excuse me, I have a few more things to do before my friends come.”

“See ya later, Chris.”

“Bye, CJ!  Bye, Toby!”

“Bye,” he mumbled without looking up.  Once she was gone, he spoke again.  “I really can’t wait until school starts again.  Having that kid around all day gets to you.”

“Stop whining, Toby.  You adore Chris, and you know it!”

“What do you want, CJ?”

“Yep, you definitely know it because you just changed the subject.”  She ignored his question because she enjoyed teasing him.

“What. Do. You. Want?” he spoke through clenched teeth and emphasized every word.

“You’re cute when you’re annoyed.”

“You’re as bad as her!”

“I guess she’s beginning to rub off on me.”

“Oh goody.”  She smiled brightly at him.  They had been friends for quite a few years now, so she was closer to Toby than most people.  She also knew what buttons to push on him to get him annoyed and how to tease him.  He had the same advantage when it came to her.  Chris claims that they should “get together” because it would be cute, but they always ignore her.  “Can you please just tell me what you need so that I can finish this speech?”

“Sure.  When are we gonna start working on hate crimes?”

“What?”

“Before Christmas we said that we’d attack hate crimes after the break.  Well, the break’s over, so when?”

“I don’t know.”

“Look into it?”

“I’ll see.”

“Thanks, for all the help, buddy,” she said sarcastically.

“Anyway I can help.”

“I’m leaving now.”

“Good.”

“And I love you too, Toby,” she answered sarcastically.  She left the room not waiting for another sarcastic remark from him.

Around 4:00, Chris was up in her room.  She hadn’t heard from her sister and friends yet, so she was wondering where they were.  She hoped their flight wasn’t delayed or anything.  While she waited for them, she played her most recent computer game, which happened to be Red Alert.  Go figure, a war game.  For having three older sisters, she certainly wasn’t the typical girl.  She was just about to kick some major butt when someone knocked.

“Pizza guy,” spoke a slightly lower voice from behind the door.  Chris laughed because right away she knew who it was.  

“Come on in, you guys!” called Chris.  The door quickly flew open, and Lynda, Emily, and Melissa burst through the door with their bags in tow.

“Hello…”  They all started to talk at the same time, but stopped when they got a good look at their friend.

“What the heck happened to you?” exclaimed Melissa.

“What?”

“Your leg!” clarified Emily.

“You guys didn’t know yet?” asked Chris.

“No,” said all of them together.

“You never mentioned it,” continued Lynda.

“Well, I just figured you guys would have heard about it because the press had got a hold of the story.”

“We live in the dark,” stated Emily.

“I guess so,” replied Chris.

“So how did it happen?” questioned Melissa.  All the girls were wondering that.

“I was running from Sam and tripped and fell down the stairs about a week ago.”

“Did Sam push you?” joked Lynda.

“No, but you guys should give him dirty looks and yell at him for pushing me down the stairs.  He gets very defensive whenever someone jokes with him about that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” said Lynda smiling devilishly.

“So what you doing?” asked Melissa after a little bit of silence.

“Playing Red Alert on the computer.”  The girls nodded in response.  “Hey you guys wanna play against each other over the network?”  They decided to do just that, so the girls were on different computers all over the Residence.  They were having a lot of fun playing and were eventually joined by Zoey.

“Hey, Chris, where are all your little friends?” asked Josh.  He had wanted to say hello to the girls.  Last time they were here, Josh had played laser tag with the girls and got to know them pretty well.

“Um let’s see, Emily is in my parents’ room, Melissa is in some guest bedroom, and, ah, yes, Lynda is in your office.”

“What’s she doing in my office?” exclaimed Josh.

“She says she is playing Red Alert on your computer.”

“I was downloading something on my computer!”

“Whoops.”

“I’m gonna kill her!”  He started leaving.

“Don’t kill my friend!  I was only kidding!  She’s in some other guest room!  Really, all you senior staff people need to get out more!  You can never take a joke!”

“You’re not funny, Chris!  You want me to break the other leg for you!?”

“No, no, I’m happy with just one broken leg.  Thanks for asking though.”

“No problem.”

“Josh, sit down, calm down, and then I’ll take you to see my friends.”  He nodded at her.  “By the way they all say ‘hi Joshy.’” 

“Tell ‘em hi for me.”  She did just that, and once their game ended, Josh and Chris went to see her friends. 

During the time after Josh left to go back to work and before CJ, Donna, and Margaret came for dinner, the girls: Chris, Emily, Lynda, and Melissa; went on a White House tour.  While they were sitting in Chris’s room trying to figure out what to do, they realized that Chris’s friends had never really gotten a good tour of the building.  Sure they had seen some of it while washing windows for their punishment a month ago, but they really didn’t see much then.  Ever since the first time Chris saw the White House with her family ten years ago, she was fascinated by it.  In fact, now, whenever a group of specially selected children receive a trip to the White House whichever member of the staff is giving the tour, they either ask Chris for a quick history or ask her to join them on the tour.  She knew practically every historical aspect about the building, so it took the four teenagers a long time to finish their tour.  Once they were through, it was about 6:30; and Bobbie informed them that their dinner would be ready at 7.  

Now Chris and her friends had known each other for around ten years.  Chris and Emily had met when they were in kindergarten together and grew to be extremely close.  Emily was shorter than Chris just barely below 5 feet.  Since Emily was so short, her friends jokingly nicknamed her ‘Shroom, and since Emily didn’t mind the name, they refer to her by that name quite often.  She had dark, curly hair and dark eyes.  When they were younger and more around the same height, many teachers at school mixed Chris and Emily up because they looked so much alike.  Em is actually only 17 days older than Chris.  As for Lynda, she was the tallest among the group.  She towered at about 5 feet, 8 inches.  In fact, Lynda’s whole family was tall making Chris, Emily, and Melissa feel even shorter.  To describe how tall Lynda’s family is, Lynda is the shortest in her family.  So you can understand why Emily at 4’11”, Chris at 5’4”, and Melissa at 5’3”, all feel short among that family.  Lynda was also extremely skinny, with brown hair and brown eyes.  Lynda and Chris had met in first grade, and shortly after they became friends, Chris introduced Lynda to Emily.  During most of that year of school and the year following, those three were inseparable.  As for their ages, Lynda is exactly one month and two days younger than Chris.  As you can imagine, during the end of each year, they have many birthday parties.  Now, Melissa is the oldest of the group.  She’s actually about two years older than the other three.  She has slightly lighter eyes than the other three and brown hair.  The way they met is Melissa is Emily’s cousin, and after Lynda, Emily, and Chris formed such a strong bond, Emily introduced Melissa to them.  Soon, the four of them realized how much they all had in common, and the rest is history.  Now the four of them are practically like sisters, which means that for Chris she feels like she has six sisters.  For Jed and Abbey, they feel like they have 7 daughters.  In fact, Lynda, Emily, and Melissa call Abbey “mom,” however they call Jed “Mr. B.” because they think it has a nice ring to it.  The other girls’ parents share similar relationships with the girls.  They all feel like when their daughter became friends, they gained three more daughters.  They all just have one big happy “family.”  

Just like they had said, Dylan came in around 7 to tell the girls that their pizzas were ready.  The girls quickly went to the dining room where all the pizzas were.  The kitchen had gone all out and had made MANY different types of pizza.  There was just cheese, cheese and sausage, pepperoni, supreme, tons of different kinds!  The girls felt bad eating without the others, so they went down to the west wing.  Melissa went to find Margaret, Lynda went to find CJ, and Emily and Chris went to find Donna.  Ten minutes later all seven of them were sitting down with their pizza and soda.  Of course while the girls were fetching Margaret, CJ, and Donna, they picked up some lost puppy dogs that were begging for food as if they hadn’t eaten in days.  Those “puppy dogs” were Josh and Sam.  Zoey eventually came up for food, and Charlie, Toby, and Leo soon followed her.  Jed came eventually, but only after he snuck away without Mrs. Landingham seeing.  As you can imagine, dinner that night was quite a bit of fun with all the people that were there.  After dinner all the guys left to go back to work, and the girls decided to go bowling at the alley in the building.

For bowling they split into two teams, Melissa, Lynda, Zoey, and CJ versus Chris, Emily, Donna, and Margaret.  You’re probably wondering how Chris played while in a wheelchair, well each time she was up, someone pushed her up to the lane, helped her out of the chair, and while standing on one foot and being supported by someone, she threw the ball.  Needless to say she had a pretty low score.  Melissa’s team won, but the losing team claimed that that was because their team had better cheaters.

“We did not cheat!” exclaimed CJ.  “You four are just sore losers!”

“You did so cheat!” accused Donna.

“Yeah, I mean, how could you not with Zoey on your team!” yelled Chris.  Zoey gave her sister a shocked expression to which Chris grinned widely at in response.

“Not to mention Lynda was also on your team!” added in Emily.

“Me and Zoey didn’t cheat!” defended Lynda.

“Yeah you did!” yelled Donna.

“Did not!” yelled Zoey and Lynda.

“DID TO!” yelled Emily and Chris.

“DID NOT!”

“DID TO!”

“DID NOT!”

“DID TO!”

“GIRLS!  STOP FIGHTING!”  A male voice shocked everyone, and they turned to the doorway to see the president and Leo.  “Jeez, you girls are the same as always.”

“Hey, dad,” said all the teenagers together.

“Hello. Now, I don’t understand why all of you are fighting.  You and I both know that you all cheated.” Chris and Zoey tried to say something.  “No, don’t talk.  I’ve known you for years, and all of you cheat.  I always told you cheating doesn’t help you win which is why the guys and I want to show you that we can beat you without cheating.”  

After that, Sam, Josh, Toby, and Charlie all walked in.  They wanted to play girls versus guys to show that the guys could beat them without cheating and with less people.   The girls took the challenge, but they faced up to the challenge and took two people off their teams to even things out.  Chris and Emily decided that they would cheer for their team because they weren’t exactly the best bowlers in the world.  During about the third frame, Abbey joined in on cheering for the girls.  From about the fifth frame on the guys were winning, however at the end of the ninth frame the game was tied. 

The beginning of the tenth frame started out with Margaret up against Sam.  Sam added 9 pins to the guys score while Margaret only added seven for her team.  The next face off was Charlie and Zoey.  Charlie’s first throw resulted in a gutter ball, and the second one he knocked down only 5 pins.  Zoey got a spare, and the girls were now leading by 3.  Following them was CJ versus Leo, Donna versus Toby, and then Lynda versus the president.  Up until Lynda went against Jed, the guys continued to trail, but he managed to hit four more pins than Lynda.  The guys were leading by one. The whole fate of the game now laid in the hands of Melissa and Josh.

“Come on, Josh!” yelled Sam.

“Give it up, Sam, Melissa is gonna kick his ass!” yelled CJ.

“You mean Melissa’s gonna get her ass kicked, CJ,” countered Toby.

“You should be preparing for your loss now, Toby,” piped in Lynda.

“You girls are tempting fate, and you’re going to regret it,” advised Charlie.

“Screw fate!” yelled Zoey.

While, their teams were fighting, Josh and Melissa ignored them and went up to bowl.  As soon as Josh got his strike, the guys began cheering, they won, but Melissa shut them up fast when she got her strike.  Since it was the last frame, they both got to go again.  They grabbed their balls, and once again both got strikes.  The pressure was on.  The guys were still ahead by one.  Josh received a pep talk from his teammates, and the girls followed suit giving Melissa a little pep talk.  Josh went first; he knocked down 6 pins.  Melissa went next; she knocked down 7 pins, but one pin was on one side of the lane and the other two were on the totally opposite side.  A hush fell over the crowd when Josh went.  Cheers erupted from the guys once Josh hit two more pins.  The only way the girls could win would be if Melissa hit all three pins.  

“Hey, Messa!” Lynda called her friend over using the nickname the girls had given her many years ago.  “Kick their asses.  They think they won…prove them wrong.”  Melissa nodded.

“Yeah, turn those damn cocky grins into frowns of defeat,” spoke Margaret.  

“You all should just forfeit now,” exclaimed Josh.

“Yeah,” piped in Sam.

“Zip it, boys!” yelled Abbey.  

Melissa went up to the lane.  She’d been in this same situation before, but was only able to hit the two pins.  Her goal was still to hit three, but she knew if she hit two they’d at least tie the game.  She aimed, stepped back, swung her arm, and let the ball go.  Everyone sat in anticipation watching the ball move in what seemed like slow motion.  Melissa stood at the foot of the lane with her eyes closed unable to watch.  Her team jumped up when the ball hit those two pins Melissa had aimed for, tying the game.  Melissa was just about to open her eyes to see her throw’s results when she heard screams from her teammates behind her.  

“WE WON! WE WON!”  Melissa heard Lynda and Chris screaming.  She opened her eyes to see all three pins knocked down.  It had turned out that one of the pins hit first had indeed flown across the lane and hit the third pin.  Melissa joined in on her team’s cheers and smiled smugly at the guys who sat staring at the lane in shock.  They couldn’t believe they lost.  

“See, Toby, tempting fate isn’t always a bad thing!” yelled CJ to her friend who hated anyone that tempted fate.  

After the game, the guys decided to go drown their sorrows, so they went up to the Residence smoked some cigars and played poker.  The girls on the other hand decided to celebrate their victory.  They went to the kitchen, grabbed some junk food, and then played video games up in the Residence.  Somewhere around two in the morning things quieted down.  The guys went home, and Jed and Abbey went to bed.  Chris, Lynda, Melissa, Emily, CJ, Donna, and Margaret stayed up a little bit longer, but they all soon fell asleep.  As you probably already figured out, CJ, Donna, and Margaret spent the night at the White House; and when they woke up the next morning, they changed into the spare clothes they had and went to work.

Thursday, December 30

When the girls woke up the next morning, it was about 11:30.  They skipped breakfast that day and went straight to lunch.  Since it was the day before the big New Year’s Eve party, the girls mainly finished up some last minute planning.  Things were pretty crazy that day in the west wing, so instead of bugging everyone, the girls decided to do some sightseeing.  That afternoon the girls, along with Bobbie, Jason, and James (another Secret Service agent), went to the Mall in DC and also the Smithsonian.  

The girls finally returned back to the White House around 8 o’clock in the evening.  They were informed that Abbey had waited for them, so the four joined the First Lady for dinner.  Unlike the night before, the girls didn’t stay up late because first of all they were tired anyway and second they wanted to be able to stay up late the next day.

Friday, December 31

The girls woke up at 9, ate breakfast, then went down to the East Room around 11:30 to help set up for the party.  They put up many decorations to celebrate the so-called new millennium.  They knew that technically the new millennium wasn’t for another year (Toby gave them a long speech about that), but they didn’t really care too much about that.  It was more fun watching the year go from 1999 to 2000 than to watch it go from 2000 to 2001 anyway.  They also helped move tables around, set up tables, set up the music…you name it, they helped do it.  The girls were working hard because they wanted tonight to be memorable, enjoyable, and tons of fun for everyone.  Later on in the afternoon, Zoey and Abbey came down and started helping.

“Hey, Sam, have you noticed how quiet the west wing has been today?” asked Josh when walking into his friend’s office.

“What exactly do you mean?  Everyone that is usually here is here.”

“Not everyone.”  Sam just gave him a confused look.  “We haven’t heard from Chris and her friends all day.  Should we be scared?  I mean are they hiding somewhere just waiting to pounce on us at an unsuspecting time?”

“No.  Wow, you’re paranoid.  The girls are all just getting ready for the New Year’s Eve party.”

“Is that tonight?”

“Yeah, last time I checked, December 31st is New Year’s Eve.  Haven’t you noticed all the new millennium party celebrations around the world that are on TV every hour?”

“No, I guess I missed those.  All right.”  Josh left Sam’s office and headed back to his.  When he walked past CJ’s office, he could hear Toby.

“What if I have plans?” disputed Toby.

“Toby!  Sitting at home by yourself on New Year’s Eve is not plans!” 

“It is to some people!”

“The girls have been working practically all day on setting up for tonight!  If you’re not there, they’ll notice!  Not to mention how much you’ll hurt Chris’s feelings!  You’ll be among friends, Toby.  Don’t spend tonight alone, you’ll regret it!”

“Fine, fine, fine.  I’ll come, but if I don’t have fun I’m yelling at you.”

“Whatever!”  

“Yeah, yeah.”  CJ smiled triumphantly at Toby’s retreating back.  She knew he would have come even if she didn’t yell at him, but she couldn’t resist the chance to win a fight against Toby.  Winning against him just felt too good to pass up.

“Thanks, CJ!”

“Lynda?  You heard me talking to Toby?” she asked confused.

“Yeah, I was talking to Carol.  Had to ask her something about tonight.  Anyway when I was about to leave I heard you two talking about the party, so I decided to listen in,” she explained.  CJ looked at her with a puzzled look on her face.  “You’re mad at me for eavesdropping, aren’t you?”

“No, actually not really.  It’s just that Chris tends to sneak up and listen in all the time too, and I just find it weird that you’re the same way.”

“We did that a lot as kids.  We got in trouble a few times, but when we got juicy information without anyone knowing, it was great.”  Lynda smiled widely at the press secretary, who had to laugh at the expression on her face.  “Well, I have to get back.”

“Yeah.  I’ll see you tonight.”

“Yeppers!  Bye, CJ!”

“Bye, Lynda!”

The girls finished setting up for the party around 4:30 in the afternoon.  They were a little tired after having a long day, so they all took a nap before the party.  At 6:00, they woke up and started to get ready.  The girls decided to have some fun, so they all decided to dress the same.  Chris and Melissa both wore black pants, black shoes, and a sparkly silver shirt. Emily and Lynda wore black pants and shoes and a sparkly gold shirt.  They wore their hair up and curled some of it to make it look “cute.”  At 7:00 they headed down to the State Dining Room.  The party didn’t officially start until 7:30, but they decided to go down early to take care of any last minute tasks.  People started to arrive shortly after 7:30, and around 8:00, things started to get fun.

The girls had gone back up to the Residence and had grabbed Chris’s laser tag stuff.  They played one on one tournaments.  Sam was the first one to lose, so he had to pay the price.

“Sam, you lost first, so we have something special for you,” explained Melissa.

“I’m frightened,” said Sam trying to sneak away.

“You should be,” joked Emily who was stopping him from moving.  Emily and Lynda led him over to one side of the room where there was a chair standing up against the wall.  “Stand up on that chair!”  He did as he was told because he knew that if he didn’t his punishment would be even worse.  

“Why am I standing on this chair?”  He looked up to see Mrs. Bartlet and Chris coming up with rolls and rolls of duct tape.  “Oh dear God, help me.”

“Okay, everyone, here’s the deal!  Sam lost first, so he has to pay the price!  We are all lucky enough tonight to have the honor of taping Sam to the wall!  Who wants to go first!?”

“WHAT!?” screamed Sam.  “NO!  WAIT THIS ISN’T FAIR!”

“Sucks to be you, Sam.  Now, I’ll ask again, who wants to go first!?  Come on, you all know you want to do it!” yelled Chris.  The whole room was laughing at the scared expression written on Sam’s face.

“I’ll do it!”

“Who said that?”  She couldn’t see everyone.  “Come up here!”

“I said I’d do it!”  Toby emerged from the crowd.  He smiled evilly at Sam who just whimpered.  “Am I limited on how much tape I can use?”

“How many pieces does Toby get?!” exclaimed Lynda asking the crowd.

“5!!” yelled CJ.  She smiled up at Sam and was waiting for her turn.

“I hate you all!” yelled Sam.  Two Secret Service agents were holding him against the wall so that he wouldn’t try sneaking away.  

“Alright, first things first.”  Mrs. Bartlet cut a piece of tape and went up to Sam.  She stood on a chair and smiled at the Deputy Communications Director.  “Any last words?”

“What?”

“Okay.”  She then proceeded to tape his mouth shut.  She smiled one more time then stepped down.

Toby took his turn and taped one of Sam’s arms firmly to the wall.  CJ followed him and taped his other arm.  Josh and Leo had the pleasure of taping his legs to the wall.  The president, Donna, Charlie, the girls, Margaret, Bonnie, Ginger, and many other people at the party taped Sam up to the wall.  They went through tons of rolls of duct tape.  By the time they were out of tape, Sam could not move at all.  At first he attempted to wiggle the tape loose, but Jed reminded him that he was standing on a chair.

“All right who wants to do the honors?” asked Mrs. Bartlet.  She was referring to the honor of removing the chair under Sam.

“I’ll do it!” yelled the president.  He walked smugly up to the wall and smiled wickedly at Sam’s wide eyes before removing the chair.  Everyone began laughing at Sam taped up on the wall, and the girls made sure to take many pictures of him taped innocently on the wall.

The night continued on with much fun.  Events included all-night karaoke, which required some dragging of people on stage in order to get them to do it.  Also, the girls took a vote of “who you’d most like to see with a pie in their face.”  Toby and Chris were the lucky winners.  They both enjoyed it and made sure to go up and give many people big hugs and kisses after they had been covered in whip cream.  It was all amusing, and before everyone knew it, it was 11:55.  The girls passed out party poppers, hats, noisemakers, horns, and other fun stuff to everyone.  

“10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!”  The room erupted into a mixture of noises with little streamers flying around.  Everyone shared many hugs with each other.

“Welcome to the new millennium, Toby!” yelled Chris as he bent to give her a hug.

“It’s not…” he started.

“Shut up, Toby!  No one likes a math geek!  Let’s just pretend it’s the new millennium!  In a year we’ll do it all over!”

“Right,” he replied.  She just smiled at him and then went to find her friends.

“Look!  The world didn’t end!” exclaimed Lynda when Chris rolled up next to her.

“Isn’t it great!?” exclaimed the first daughter.

“I guess, but this means we have to go back to school in a few days,” said Lynda glumly.

“Yeah, better enjoy our free time while we can!” answered Melissa.

The party continued on for a little while longer after the New Year began.  People did eventually start to head home.  After everyone was gone Jed, Abbey, and the girls all went upstairs to bed.  The next day they relaxed and had a nice dinner.  On Sunday, Melissa, Emily, and Lynda left for New Hampshire because they unfortunately had school on Monday.  That New Year was one of the best any of them had had, and they hoped to do it all again in a year.  In the mean time, they’re all sure that many things will happen that will make the year 2000 unforgettable.

THE END!


	4. Other Daughter, The 4

**The Other Daughter ~ The Boyfriend**

**by:** CrazyChris 

**Disclaimer:** The West Wing belongs to NBC and Aaron Sorkin.  This is for entertainment purposes only.  No copyright infringement is intended.  It's just for fun and I'm just borrowing the characters.  
**Category:** New Character, General, AU  
**Rating:** YTEEN  
**Summary:** What if the Bartlets had a 17 year old daughter living with them at the White House?  Here's what could go on.  
**Author's Notes:** I’m thinking about turning this into a series.  Please, please, tell me if I should or not!  Let me know if you like this story, and remember it’s just for fun.  Please send feedback! 

* * *

Tuesday, January 11, 2000

At 6:30AM, the newest, popular song could be heard coming from Christine Bartlet’s alarm clock. It was time to start another day of school. _Oh goodie, another day of people talking about me behind my back…I can’t wait,_ thought Chrisas she rolled out of bed. Even though she was a fun and friendly person, Chris didn’t really have friends at school because everyone was intimidated by the fact that she was the president’s daughter. She tried to make friends, and there were people at school who talked to her. However, no one hung out with her after school because, most likely, they didn’t want to have to have the Secret Service hanging out with them too.

Chris got dressed, ate breakfast, got her stuff together, and left for another "fun-filled" day of school at 7:30. When she arrived at school, her and Jason did their usual routine. Drop off her stuff at her locker, get the stuff she needed, and then go up to her first period class. She worked on some of the homework that she needed to finish up and talked to her teacher for a little bit. Before she knew it, Chris heard the bell ring and class soon began. That’s when she noticed him. The seat in front of her was usually empty because the person who used to sit there dropped out of the class. But now someone new was sitting in front of Chris. The teacher was out of the room, so she decided to introduce herself. She tapped him on his shoulder and waited until he turned around to talk to him. He wasn’t too bad looking.

"Hi, I’m Christine Bartlet, but everyone just calls me Chris." She put her hand out, and he shook it and spoke back to her.

"Hey, Chris, I’m Nathan Spence."

"It’s nice to meet you, Nathan."

"You too."

"So did you just move to DC?" So far Nathan seemed to be very polite and a decent guy. As for looks, he had brown spiky hair, green eyes, and was about 5’7".

"Yeah, I moved here from South Carolina because my dad had a job transfer."

"Oh I see. Have you met many people yet?" 

"No, actually you’re the first."

"Cool." The teacher walked in before Chris or Nathan could say anymore, however they had a few other classes together including lunch, so they spent much time getting to know each other. Chris was happy because Nathan was the first person that saw beyond the fact that she was the First Daughter. In fact about a week after they met, the two of them became really close.

Thursday, January 20, 2000

"So, Chris, do you have any plans Saturday?" asked Nathan at lunch.

"No."

"Would you like to show me around DC in the afternoon? Since I moved here, I haven’t seen much of our nation’s capital."

"Like on a date or just friends?"

"I was hoping you’d like the idea of a date." He was nervous, and she found it so cute.

"Sure, I’d love to."

"Cool…So how do I…?"

"Oh, yeah, that’s right. All you have to do is go to the White House entrance, tell them your name, and show some I.D. I’ll make sure that they know you’re coming and there shouldn’t be a problem. You do know that there will be an agent with us, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay…you’re okay with that?"

"Yeah. So I’ll be there around 2?"

"Sounds great."

Chris was so excited, she couldn’t wait to get home and tell everyone about her date. She couldn’t believe it. She barely had friends and now she had a date for Saturday afternoon. School was actually starting to get better. 

That day after school, Chris practically skipped through the White House hallway. She wanted to tell so many people about her date. Her first destination was to one of her best buddies in the west wing. Luckily for Chris, the person she was looking for was at her desk, so she wouldn’t have to wait to tell her.

"Donna! Donna! Donna!! Guess what!?" exclaimed Chris as she bounced up to Donna’s desk acting like she was a five year old who got permission to stay up later on a school night.

"What is it!?" asked Donna just as excited as Chris.

"You remember that new kid, Nathan, that I told you about?" She didn’t even give Donna a chance to answer before she continued. "Well, guess what happened today?!" Once again Donna was not given a chance to respond. "He asked me out on a date this Saturday afternoon!! Can you believe it!? Me like the least popular girl in school got asked out on a date by a pretty good looking guy!!"

Now Donna was able to speak. "Really!? Good for you!"

"I’m so excited! I’m gonna go tell everyone! I’ll catch you later!" Chris ran down the hall before Donna could say anything more.

"Donna?" She turned in her chair at the call of her name and found Josh standing behind her with a confused expression. "What’s up with Chris? Did they cancel school for the rest of the year?"

"No, but I can see why you’d think that." Josh indicated for her to keep talking and to follow him to his office. "She got a date for Saturday afternoon with this new guy Nathan."

Josh stopped and looked straight at Donna with disbelief. "Chris has a date?"

"Uh huh."

"Christine Bartlet?"

"Yeah, Josh." 

"Well, that’s preposterous; she’s too young to date."

Donna was stunned. "Josh, she’s 17 years old!"

"My point exactly! Dating shouldn’t start until she’s 21."

"21!? Josh! 21!?"

"Yes."

"You’re crazy! It’s like you’re her father or something!"

"I know that, but 20 bucks her father feels the same way."

"Ugh! I don’t believe you." Donna turned and started to walk out of his office.

"I’m just being a big brother!" he yelled at her retreating back.

"Whatever!" she called over her shoulder.

Within in an hour, CJ, Carol, Ginger, Bonnie, Margaret, and Abbey had all heard from Chris that she had a date Saturday afternoon. Chris however didn’t tell her father, Leo, Josh, Toby, or Sam because she didn’t want to know what they would say. She figured she’d tell them at 1:59 on Saturday…or maybe just when she was leaving Saturday.

"Sam, Toby," called Josh when he neared their offices.

"Yeah?" responded Sam.

"What?" replied Toby.

"Donna told me that Chris has a date Saturday afternoon with some new guy at school named Nathan." Well, so much for Chris’s plan cause Josh just threw it all to hell.

"Christine Bartlet?" asked Sam. Josh just nodded. "She barely has friends at school!"

"I know," said Josh.

"She’s too young to date, and being the president’s daughter, I don’t think it’s a good idea," brought up Toby. The other two agreed, and they then discussed reasons of why Chris shouldn’t go on the date. They soon left to go talk to Leo about it.

"Margaret, we need to speak to Leo about a very important matter," said Sam when they entered Leo’s office.

"Can I tell him what it is?" she asked standing up to ask Leo if he could see them.

"No, sorry, top secret," answered Josh.

"O…K…" she said. She then went in to talk to Leo. She returned shortly later to tell them they could go in.

"What’s happened? What’s going on?" asked Leo who sounded concerned and worried thinking that a major crisis had just occurred.

"Chris has a date this Saturday afternoon," explained Josh.

"Chris? My goddaughter Chris?" asked Leo.

"Yeah," answered Toby.

"That’s absurd! She’s only 17, I don’t like the idea of her dating."

"That’s what we said!" said Sam speaking for the other two.

"Does the president know?" asked Leo.

"My guess would be that she doesn’t plan on telling him until she gets back from the date," theorized Josh.

"We should tell him then." Leo then led the way over to the Oval Office. They entered and told the president that they needed to talk.

"What’s going on," asked Jed once everyone was settled.

"Well, it involves your daughter, sir," began Sam.

"What? Which one?"

"Chris," replied Josh.

"What’s going on with her?"

"Well, sir, the word on the street is that she has a date Saturday, with some new kid named Nathan," explained Leo.

"A date? With a kid named Nathan? I don’t like that…my daughter is too young to date," reasoned Jed. The others just looked at each other agreeing with him. "I’m going to have to talk to this young man if he’s going to be with my daughter." 

"Sir, I think I speak for all of us in here, when I say that we’d all like to have a talk with this Nathan," said Toby.

"Excellent! The more fatherly figures the better!" exclaimed Jed. It was settled then. Jed, Leo, Josh, Sam, and Toby were going to make sure that Nathan was good enough for the youngest Bartlet child.

Poor Chris, however, did not know about their plan to speak to Nathan. She was excited about Saturday, and her mom, CJ, Donna, and other women at the White House were excited for her. The guys were smart enough to mention nothing of their plan to anyone and to pretend like they were happy for her too. No one suspected anything. 

Saturday, January 22, 2000 

At exactly 2:00, Nathan arrived at the White House driving his new black Mustang with tinted windows. Jed and his Merry Men could not believe the car that they saw him driving. They were all about ready to go grab Chris and tie her to a chair in the basement of the White House. However, Abbey stopped Jed from doing anything, and the others' secretaries stopped them. 

"Abbey! Did you look at his car?!" exclaimed Jed who still couldn't believe that she wasn't going to let him go down there and stop his daughter. 

"Yes, Jed, I do have eyes! I saw his car. How couldn't I? You pointed it out about 20 times, gumdrop!" she replied standing behind him. He was still looking out the window. He soon saw his daughter walk out followed by Bobbie. "See nothing to worry about. Bobbie will be with them." 

"I don't care. If I had a son, I wouldn't let him drive a car like that." 

"You don't have a son, you only have 4 daughters. Would you let them drive that car?" 

"Hell no! And I wouldn't want them riding in a car like that with their boyfriend either!" 

"Oh, here we go again," mumbled Abbey taking a seat close to the door just in case he wanted to try and run out. When he started to leave, she stood up. "Where you going?" 

"I'm going to go talk to Leo about a thing." 

"A thing? This thing wouldn't happen to involve your daughter and his goddaughter, would it?" 

"Of course not. Abbey, we have a country to run. We'll be discussing governmental things," he explained hoping she'd buy it. 

"On a Saturday afternoon?" 

"Just because it's Saturday doesn't mean the country stops running. I'm going to go talk to him and see the other staffers that are here and thank them for their dedication." 

"Well, okay then." 

"Thank you." He walked out the door, but soon noticed that Abbey was following behind him. "What are you doing?" 

"Walking." 

"Where?" 

"To go visit some of your staffers and thank them for the dedication they give my husband." 

"Abbey," he said in a slightly stern voice. 

"Yes?" She looked at him sweetly. 

"Fine." They parted ways once they were in the West Wing. He went to Leo's office while she ventured over to CJ's office. 

Jed walked into the Chief of Staff's office and was greeted by more faces than he intended. All of his co-conspirators were scattered around it. They all saw Nathan's car, and since they couldn't get to him, they went to Leo's office. 

"Well, I see you've all seen the black Mustang my daughter's little friend drove up in," began Jed who received many "yes, sir" answers. "And we all feel the same about it?" "Yes, sir" was heard once again. "Excellent! So here's what I'm thinking…" 

Meanwhile, the first lady ventured into the Press Secretary's office. CJ was sitting at her desk talking to Donna who was sitting on the couch in the office. 

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Bartlet," greeted CJ who spotted her first. 

"Hello, CJ, Donna. What are you two discussing?" asked Abbey. 

"I was just telling CJ that Josh and Sam flipped out when they saw Nathan's car and ran to get Toby. I followed them, and they ended up going to see Leo. That's when I came here." 

"Yes, Jed was far from happy too. I stopped him from totally embarrassing Chris, but he's now with everyone else in Leo's office. I'd hate to think what they're doing in there. My poor, poor daughter." 

"Abbey, the car didn't upset you at all?" asked CJ. 

"Oh it did, but I wasn't about to go out there and stop their date. I look at it as it's 2 in the afternoon, they're going sightseeing, and since my husband's the president a couple secret service agents will be with them. I'm not too worried. The kid can't try too much." Both CJ and Donna agreed, and the three of them were in on a little secret that Chris and Nathan would be coming into the White House when they returned. Chris was going to give him a White House tour, so Abbey was going to get the chance to meet him before Jed and his merry men scared him. 

The rest of the afternoon was mainly spent waiting for the young couple to return, talking, and working. When Chris and Nathan finally did return it was about 5:00, and Abbey was waiting for them by the door. "Hi, mom!" greeted Chris once she spotted her. Abbey noticed that Nathan was a well-dressed teenager, and so far she liked him minus the whole car thing. 

"Hey, sweetie." Abbey gave her daughter a quick hug. 

"Mom, this is Nathan. Nathan this is my mom." 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am," greeted Nathan shaking the First Lady's hand. 

"And it's nice to meet you, Nathan. I hope you two had fun today." 

"Yes, we did. Chris showed me many monuments located in the Mall, and then we saw a little bit of the Smithsonian." 

"That's great," replied Abbey with a smile. "I know Chris is going to show you the White House now. She's the best tour guide we got. You two have fun." 

"Thank you, ma'am." 

"Thanks, mom." Before Chris could walk away though, Abbey grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side. "What is it, mom?" 

"Your father and his merry men weren't too happy when they saw Nathan's car. Keep your eyes open." 

"Oh jeez. Thank you." Abbey winked and then let her daughter walk away. 

Chris was able to show Nathan a lot of the White House before they were spotted by one of the co-conspirators. Sam was on his way to get something to eat when he spotted Bobbie standing in the hallway. He knew that if she was there then Chris wasn't too far away. He wandered into the Blue Room and sure enough she was in there with Nathan. She was currently giving him a little bit of history. 

"Hey, Chris," said Sam announcing his presence in the room. Chris and Nathan both turned towards the voice. Nathan looked confused while Chris looked to be on the verge of being upset. 

"Hi, Samuel." She used his full name to try and give him the hint that she wanted him to leave. 

"Are you going to introduce us?" She just looked at him, but he wasn't going to back down. 

"Fine," she huffed. "Sam this is Nathan, Nathan this is Sam. He's the Deputy Communications Director and a pain in the ass. He pushed me down the stairs in fact, right before Christmas. Broke my leg." She smiled sweetly at him while he proceeded to shake Nathan's hand. 

"It's nice to meet you," said Nathan nicely. 

"It's nice to meet you, and I would just like to add that she tripped down the stairs. I was 20 feet behind her when she fell." 

"O…K…" 

"Well, Sam, now that you've met the infamous Nathan, it's time for you to go, you know, do whatever it is you're paid to do." Chris practically pushed him out of the door. He surprisingly went without complaint, but that's what worried her. "Come on, we better move." 

"Why? What's going on?" 

"They know you're here now…they're all going to want to meet you." 

"Alright." The two of them quickly left the room and began moving far away from it. Eventually they thought they were safe, and Chris began telling him about the new room they were in. 

"Well, if it isn't the adorable Bartlet child and a friend." 

"Hi, Josh." 

"Hello, Chris. And you must be Nathan." The two guys shook hands. 

"Yes." 

"It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Josh." 

"Yeah, he probably figured that out when I said 'hi, Josh.'" 

"Well, aren't you in a mood." 

"Only when you're around." 

"Right. Well, I'd hate to cut your tour short, but there are some people here that would like to meet you, Nathan," said Josh looking at the young man who hadn't said much. 

"No," spoke Chris before he could. 

"I didn't ask you. Nathan?" 

"Sure, okay." 

"Good, let's go then." Both guys began heading for the door. 

"Wait, I'm coming with!" 

"Sorry, Chris, guys only talk. But Donna, CJ, and Mrs. Bartlet are all in CJ's office. You should go talk to them. Bye." He walked out before anything else could be said. 

"Mrs. Bartlet is my mom, you know!" she yelled even though she knew he couldn't hear her. "This sucks," she said to the empty room and then stormed down the hall to CJ's office. 

During their walk, Josh and Nathan mainly exchanged some small talk. Josh asked about his old home, old school, why he moved, how he liked DC, those kinds of things. Nathan kindly replied and didn't think Josh was such a bad person. Chris had told him about her dad being the definition of overprotective father, but that really didn't frighten him too much. She mentioned that her father had turned members of the Senior Staff into him, however he didn't know what to expect. Although, when the young black man greeted Nathan with a sympathetic look and gave him a reassuring pat on the back, Nathan began to feel somewhat nervous. And then having Josh open the door and lead him into the Oval Office brought butterflies to his stomach. 

"Mr. President," began Josh, "I brought a visitor." Nathan then emerged from behind Josh and was greeted by looks coming from four pairs of eyes, three of them being new. 

"Hello," greeted Nathan more quiet than usual but still loud enough to be heard. 

"You must be Nathan," spoke Jed Bartlet standing up. 

"Yes, sir. It's an honor to meet you," responded Nathan shaking President Bartlet's hand firmly. 

"You probably already know that I am Chris's father." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Okay, well, I'll do the other introductions. This is Leo McGarry, my Chief of Staff and Chris's godfather." After Nathan shook hands, Jed continued. "Over here is Toby Ziegler, my Communications Director." More hand shaking followed. "And I believe you've already met Sam Seaborn and Josh Lyman." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Alright, then we shall continue. Nathan, please, take a seat." 

"Thank you, sir." He sat in the chair located across from the president. Toby and Leo were on the couch next to Jed, and Sam and Josh were seated on the couch next to Nathan. 

"Let's talk. I'll start by saying that some of the things asked of you may seem a little blunt and insignificant, but what you must understand is that Chris is my youngest daughter, and I'm only looking out for her." 

"Of course, sir." Nathan tried not to fidget in his chair, but the five powerful men looking at him made it very difficult. He was afraid of what they would ask of him. He sort of felt like he was being suspected of committing a crime and the police were questioning him. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like there'd be any "good cops" in this interrogation. 

"First of all, Nathan, have you ever had a girlfriend before?" asked the president. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Just one?" 

"Two actually." 

"How long were these relationships?" asked Leo. 

"The first one was about a month, and the second about three months." 

"You don't seem to go for long-term relationships," brought up Josh. 

"Well, sir, as a teenager, most relationships don't last more than a few months at the most…" 

"Are you saying that you plan on your relationship with Chris lasting only a couple months?" questioned Toby. Nathan was beginning to squirm under the gazes he was receiving, and he knew the questions were just beginning. 

"I can't say for certain, but sometimes it's hard." 

"You not up for the challenge?" asked Sam. 

"I am." 

"Then you anticipate a long term relationship with my daughter?" 

"I can't say for certain, sir. I've only known her for a few weeks." 

"So what, you're going to take her on a little 'test drive' to see if you want a relationship with her?" asked Leo. 

"I didn't mean it like that, sir. She's not a car. I just don't know totally for sure, yet, if we're right for each other." 

"Speaking of cars. That's a pretty expensive car you have there," stated Toby changing the subject. 

"Yes, sir." 

"Is it yours?" asked Josh. 

"Yes, sir, my parents gave it to me as a birthday gift when I received my license. It was a way for them to force me to get a job because I have to pay for most of the car insurance," explained Nathan hoping they'd realize that he's at least responsible. 

"So you have a job?" continued Jed. 

"I did, sir, when I lived in South Carolina. I haven't found one here in DC yet." 

"Where did you work?" asked Leo. 

"I actually worked for a computer company called Digital Future in which my job was mainly to help set up network systems in different schools and office buildings." That shocked all of them in the room; they were expecting something like drive-thru at McDonald's or a clerk at a store. 

"That's a pretty decent job for a teenager," mentioned Sam. The others just agreed and thought they'd stop talking about his job. 

"Yes, a friend of my family helped me get it." 

"Okay, Nathan, you said your parents gave you the car. Not to sound rude, but do they give cars to all their children?" questioned Josh. 

"I'm an only child, so in a way yes." 

"You got the car on your birthday, so you've had it for how long now, one year?" said Leo. 

"Almost 2 years now, the driving age in South Carolina is 15." 

"Any tickets?" asked Toby. 

"No, sir." 

"Warnings?" tried Josh. 

"No, sir." 

"Accidents?" continued Sam. 

"No, sir." 

"Well, then, at least we won't worry about Chris riding with you so much," said Leo slowly. They couldn't believe it. They figured he would have had some traffic violation. They decided it was time to stop asking about his car and move on. 

"Let's go back to where we started shall we?" stated the president who was disappointed. "These two past relationships you had, how and why did they end?" 

"Well, the first one was the one that only lasted a month. It was my freshman year. I ended it because I felt that she was asking me to spend too much time with her." That was an answer they wanted, now they were back in the game. 

"Too much time with you? Well, I know Chris likes to spend a lot of time with people. You going to break it off with her if she bothers you too much?" demanded Sam sounding a little snippy at the end. 

"It wasn't that she bothered me too much, it was that she always wanted to be with me." 

"Chris likes to be with people a lot. She's a people person. I'm sure she'd want to spend a lot of time with you," explained Josh. 

"Yeah, in fact, my goddaughter is almost always with someone. I would expect that you being her boyfriend, she'd mainly want to be with you. I bet you didn't consider that, huh? You didn't think that maybe you should see if she was a little like an old girlfriend before you asked her out." 

"But maybe, you've changed. Maybe that's why you didn't ask her. You could actually commit this time. How about you tell us the reason your other relationship ended," persisted Toby. By this time, Nathan was wishing that either a.) He still lived in South Carolina; b.) He had just decided to stay friends with Chris; or c.) The floor would suck him up so that he could get out of the rest of this conversation. 

"The, um, other relationship was during my sophomore year. She, uh, broke up with me because…" Nathan had to stop for a few seconds because his mouth suddenly felt very dry. Also, he was starting to sweat. These actions did not go unnoticed by Jed and his Merry Men, and they loved it. "…Because she felt that I tended to enjoy being with my other friends and flirting with other girls more than being with her." Now, most boyfriends when having an answer like this would have lied to their current girlfriend's father. However, he found that difficult to do when talking to the President of the United States. He feared that if he lied that they'd find out somehow by reading an FBI file or tracking down his old girlfriend or something. 

"You flirted with girls while you were in a relationship with someone else?" asked Josh in disbelief. 

"I…it…It tended to happen subconsciously, I, um, didn't always realize I was doing it." 

"You didn't know you were flirting with a girl that wasn't your girlfriend?" demanded Jed. Oh yeah, Nathan was in trouble. 

"It was innocent. She would flirt with other guys." 

"That doesn't matter. She's not dating my daughter." 

"Sir, I know it was wrong, but as a teenager I was just having fun." 

"Do you plan on having some 'fun' when dating Chris?" asked Toby. "Because I'm sure you hurt your old girlfriend by doing what you did. Are you going to hurt Chris the same way?" 

"No, sir, I don't plan on repeating my wrongful actions. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt Chris." Nathan knew that he had dug a huge hole for himself and that he would be in it for a looooong time. 

Meanwhile, in CJ's office, Chris was whining to CJ, her mom, and Donna about what could be happening to poor Nathan. "They're going to ruin it all for me! They're going to scare him away! And then I'm gonna kill them all, slowly and painfully." A devilish look appeared in the teenager's eyes. 

"Whoa, Chris, calm down." 

"CJ, you don't understand. You don't know how my father and Uncle Leo can get when it comes to boys dating the 'special girls' in their lives. And we're talking about both of them plus Sam, Josh, and Toby! Nathan is going to run out of here screaming! Not to mention that they're in the Oval Office! You know how intimidating that can be!?" 

"She does have a point," agreed Donna. 

"Thank you," replied Chris. 

"Honey, it'll be fine." 

"MOM! How can you say that?!? After we've seen what has happened to Liz's, Ellie's, Zoey's, and Mallory's boyfriends!!" 

"Okay, so they'll ruin some minor things…" Chris just looked at Abbey. "Some major…" Another look. "Everything?" No look this time. 

"Just explain to Nathan that your father and friends get that way, but that he shouldn't let them stop you two from dating." 

"CJ, trust me when I say this. If dad is anything like usual, Nathan will fear getting near me." 

"I wouldn't say that. Charlie's fine," reasoned CJ. 

"Yeah, kiddo, she's right. He didn't traumatize Charlie," agreed Abbey. 

"Yeah, well, that's cause dad knew that if he scared Charlie, Charlie would quit, wouldn't have money to support his sister any more, and Zoey would make him feel guilty. Eventually he would have to apologize, hire him back, and let him date Zoey with many obligations involved. The way things are now, there's no guilt, and he can have some fun with Charlie. Plus, he'd known Charlie for a while. He doesn't know Nathan." Chris sat heavily down on the couch between her mom and Donna while CJ sat at her desk. The three older women looked at the distressed girl trying to figure out what they could do to help her out. "This sucks so much." 

"Chris," warned her mom. She was referring to her daughter's language. 

"Sorry, but mom, it's true!" After that Chris started to get up. 

"Where you going?" said Donna asking the question on everyone's mind. 

"I'm going to try and get Nathan away from hell." 

"Good luck!" yelled Donna to her retreating back. 

"You're gonna need it," mumbled Abbey so that only Donna and CJ could hear, and they both agreed. 

Chris walked down to the Oval Office ignoring everyone that she passed. She was concentrating on her goal. When she reached her destination, Charlie was sitting at his desk working on something. She didn't know what, and she didn't really care. 

"Hey, Chris." 

"Hi, Charlie. Are they still torturing him?" 

"Yeah." 

"Damn." He just looked at her. "Well, can't you do something about it?" 

"What am I supposed to do?" he exclaimed. 

"I don't know, anything! Say there's a situation, say China invaded Japan! I don't care, just do something! Come on, Charlie, you know how my dad is! Please!" She was practically begging. In fact he was waiting for her to get down on her knees. 

"Fine, fine, fine. But don't forget that I did this for you!" He got up and knocked on the door. When he was given permission, he walked in. Chris lingered in the hallway out of sight. "Excuse me, sir." 

"What is it, Charlie?" asked the president. 

"Well, sir, a certain teenager just informed me that China invaded Japan." Charlie smiled slightly and so did everyone else in the room. Meanwhile, out in the hall Chris was about to scream. 

"And I can't believe you came in here to tell me that," spoke the president. 

"Well, sir, if you had locked her in that dungeon we wouldn't be having this conversation." Charlie was trying not to laugh. 

"Charlie?" 

"Yes, sir?" 

"Do you like your job?" 

"Yes, sir." 

"Then I would refrain from making any more comments like that." 

"Yes, sir." 

"Oh and tell my daughter that for making you do that, we'll be spending more quality time with Nathan," said Jed loud because he knew Chris was hiding. "Thanks, Charlie." 

"You're welcome, sir." He left the office and closed the door behind him. 

"I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU!!" yelled Chris the second the door clicked shut. 

"What!?" 

"You told him the China thing!?" 

"You told me to!" 

"I said to tell him something! I didn't mean to necessarily tell him the China thing! I don't believe this!" Chris stomped away back to CJ's office. When she got there, she noticed that Margaret, Ginger, and Carol had joined everyone else. 

"How'd it go?" asked Donna when she saw Chris. 

"Terrible. My life is ruined." 

"Chris, your life is not ruined," assured her mom. 

"Oh trust me, it is." 

"What happened?" asked Ginger. Everyone was curious. 

"I'd rather not get into that." She took a seat on the couch between Donna and Margaret. "I'm just going to sit here and cry. Don't mind me." 

"Wow, you're really upset about this," spoke Margaret. 

"Upset? No, why would you think that?" answered Chris sarcastically. 

"Chris, don't worry, things will work out. You warned him, right?" attempted Carol. 

"Yeah. Fine, fine. Let's just talk about something else." So the rest of the time they talked about everything and anything. 

It was almost an hour after Chris had tried to save Nathan that someone came and knocked on the door to CJ's office. During that hour, everyone in the room had just sat around and told funny stories. They were trying to cheer Chris up, and at some points she did actually laugh. Carol was closest to the door, so she opened it after the knock. Charlie was the one standing there. 

"I just came in to tell Chris that they're circling for a landing." Chris jumped up from her spot on the couch and walked over to him. 

"Have you seen, Nathan? Does he look petrified? Did they scare him away?? Am I single again!?" Her voice got louder each time she asked a new question. 

"Well, I couldn't tell you for sure. I really haven't had the chance to see him yet." 

"Damn!" Chris ran out of the room before her mom could yell at her for her use of language. 

When she was out of earshot, Charlie spoke up. "I lied." 

"What?" exclaimed Margaret. 

"What do you mean, 'you lied'?" continued Donna. 

"Well, I've seen Nathan, and well…" his voice trailed off, and he didn't finish his sentence. 

"Charlie?" asked Mrs. Bartlet. 

"It doesn't look good," he finished. 

"Damn," cursed CJ under her breath. 

"Well, maybe he'll be okay," tried Bonnie. Everyone looked at her. "Or maybe not." 

"We'll just wait to see if Chris comes back extremely pissed off. If she does, then it's time for all of us to help her fight back," said the First Lady. They all nodded in agreement. 

Meanwhile Chris was on her way to the Oval Office, when she reached her destination, Josh and Sam were just leaving. They smiled at her, but she just glared. "What did you do to him?" 

"Nothing!" exclaimed Josh. 

"Why don't I believe you?" she moaned. They shrugged. "Where's Nathan?" 

"Looking for you," answered Sam. She left and went to find him. She took a chance and quickly ran towards the door in the mansion that leads outside. She knew a quick way to get there, so she hoped to beat him. 

When Chris got into the mansion and into the front hallway, she didn't see Nathan anywhere, but she did see that his car was still outside. She waited a few minutes, and he soon came up the stairs. She smiled at him, and he sort of returned the gesture. It was more of a half smile. "What happened?" she asked after seeing his response. 

"Nothing," he mumbled trying to avoid eye contact. 

"Nathan?" Chris knew that she was right and that her father and his select staff members had scared her boyfriend away. 

"It was fine. Listen, it's getting late, and I told my parents I'd be home for dinner. So I have to go." He started heading for the door. He stopped and turned back to her. "Bye, Chris." 

"Bye," she said softly. She was mad, but not at Nathan. She didn't want to seem angry with him. She watched his car pull away and then headed back over to the West Wing. She was trying to control her anger. It was pretty difficult. 

Everyone that was in CJ's office when Chris returned knew right away that Nathan was probably scared away. However they tried to convince Chris that maybe he really did have to leave, and that she should wait till school on Monday to see if he really was scared away. At first the teenager protested, but once her mom reassured her that if he really was scared away they would all fight back, Chris gave in.

Monday, January 24, 2000 

Chris arrived at school at her usual time. She headed up to first period hoping that Nathan was up there. He usually was because the two of them usually went over their homework together. However, he was nowhere to be seen. She waited a bit before she started to work on some other things. He didn't come in until right before the last bell rang, and when he sat down he just smiled at her. She was so mad, and she was wishing she could go back to the West Wing right now and yell at everyone. The rest of the morning Nathan didn't talk to her, and poor Jason had to listen to Chris whine. Although, Jason was nice about it, and he listened to all she said and tried to make her feel better. 

At lunch, Chris approached Nathan when she saw him sitting with some other guys. "Nathan, can I talk to you?" 

"Sure," he said slowly. He followed her back to the table the two of them usually sat at. 

"What's going on?" she asked once they were seated. 

"What do you mean?" 

"Don't play dumb with me," she said a little louder than she meant to. "What did they do to you Saturday?" 

"Nothing." She just gave him a look that said "yeah, right". "We talked, and well, I don't think you and I would make a very good couple. We have a lot of differences. This won't work." She couldn't believe he was saying this. 

"Are we still going to be friends?" she questioned. She was now trying to hold back tears of anger and sadness. 

"I don't know. It'll be hard." 

"Fine!" She quickly got up. "Go back to your friends! And to think I thought you would be different than everyone else! Boy, was I wrong!" She stalked away with Jason and went into the guidance counselors' office. Once in there, she sat and talked to the secretaries who she knew really well. 

Chris couldn't wait to get home, and when she did she headed straight for her mother's office. She was extremely disappointed when she wasn't there. She then decided to head down to the West Wing. She just hoped she didn't see her dad, Uncle Leo, Josh, Sam, or Toby because she didn't think she would be able to stop herself from yelling and hitting them. Luckily, she made it to CJ's office without any contact. Carol wasn't at her desk, so Chris just went straight into CJ's office without knocking. 

"CJ!" she yelled causing the press secretary to jump. "Give me a weapon! Give me one now! I have something I need to do!" 

"No, I don't think I will give you a weapon," answered CJ calmly. 

"CJ!" she yelled. 

"WHAT CHRIS!?" 

"WEAPON! NOW! I'll take anything!" 

"OK, NO! You know why!? Because I'm the press secretary, and it'll be my job to explain why the first daughter is running through the White House with a weapon. And I don't want to do that! Now tell me what is wrong!" Suddenly, Chris got really calm and took a seat on CJ's couch. CJ looked at her waiting for her to talk. "Chris?" 

"He dumped me today. He doesn't even want to be friends." She looked up at CJ with sad eyes. CJ moved over to sit next to Chris. 

"Oh, shorty, I'm so sorry. Your mom is at a meeting right now, but after she gets back we'll go down there, ok? She has a payback plan. A plan that doesn't involve a weapon." Chris laughed. 

"I sort of overreacted, huh?" 

"No, I wouldn't say that. I just don't think killing them would be as rewarding as our plan. You know, because of all the consequences involved with killing the president and most of his senior staff." 

"Oh, yeah." The two then sat and talked about Nathan and what exactly happened that day. Eventually Carol came back, and CJ asked her to find out if the First Lady was done with her meeting. 

"CJ?" 

"Yeah, Carol." 

"The First Lady is on her way." 

"Thanks." CJ turned towards her companion. "Hey, Carol! Get the rest of Team Payback in here!" 

"Team Payback?" asked Chris with a smile. 

"Shut up." 

"Okay." Chris tried to hold back her giggles. Soon though, her mom walked in. 

"He broke up with you?" asked Abbey walking in. 

"Yeah," whined Chris. Abbey sat down next to Chris and pulled her into a hug.  "See, I told you they would ruin everything,” said Chris into her mom’s shoulder.  Everyone in the room could tell that the teenager was on the verge of tears.

"I know, but we're going to fight back." They waited for the rest of the team: Donna, Margaret, Bonnie, Ginger, Carol, and even Mrs. Landingham. Then they explained the plan to Chris and decided that they would do it that night.  Chris liked the plan a lot and couldn’t wait for it to happen.

"Leo." 

"Yeah, Margaret," he answered and looked up at his secretary standing in the doorway. 

"Mrs. Landingham just called. Apparantly the president wants a staff meeting in the Oval Office in an hour and a half." 

"Did she say why?" 

"No." 

"Okay, thank you." She started to leave the room. "Remind me about it in an hour and a half," he yelled to her retreating back. 

"Okay," she called back. 

Meanwhile in the Oval Office, Mrs. Landingham was telling the president something similar. Except that Jed thinks that Leo called for the Staff Meeting. Also, Sam, Josh, and Toby were told by their assistants that the president had called for a staff meeting. None of them knew what it was about, but they knew they'd find out soon enough. So they didn't question it too much. 

An hour and a half later, all the guys were assembled in the Oval Office. "So, Leo what is this meeting about?" asked the president. 

"Why are you asking me, sir? You're the one who called for it." 

"I didn't arrange this meeting," protested the president. "You did." 

"No, sir, it was you. Margaret came in and told me that you wanted a staff meeting in an hour and a half. Guys?" Leo looked at the three staff members in the room. They nodded indicating that their assistants told them the same. 

"Well, then what is going on? Who arranged this?" demanded the president. 

"Maybe that's why CJ isn't here," reasoned Sam who had been talking about that with Josh and Toby. 

"Mrs. Landingham!" The president wanted to demand his secretary to tell him what was going on. When she didn't come, he yelled again. "Mrs. Landingham!" 

The door opened, however the president's secretary wasn't who walked through it. "All right, so let me tell you a story," began Chris. Her father attempted to interrupt her. "No interruptions. Just sit and listen to my little story." When no one moved, she continued. "Good. Now I'd like for you to imagine that you're new to the town. You go to school and no one there talks to you. All of them are too busy wrapped up in their own lives with their own worries and problems. None of them care to notice you - the new guy. Now imagine that there's this girl in your first period class. She notices you, begins talking to you, and you two begin a friendship. You share some classes together, and she even saves you a seat at lunch so that you don't have to sit alone. A few weeks later, the two of you decide to spend an afternoon outside of school together. She then invites you to her house, and while you're there her father and his employees decide that they're going to question you and hassle you and harass you. Are you embarrassed? Yes. Do you make up some lame excuse for leaving quickly? Yes! Is she incredibly mad at them? YES! Is she going to beat them all senseless with a 2X4? Hell yeah!" 

Before any of them could say anything, Abbey, CJ, Donna, Mrs. L, Carol, Bonnie, and Ginger all walked in. "And are her mother and friends going to help her? DEFINITELY!" 

"Oh crap," mumbled Sam thinking only Josh could hear him. 

"Oh you can say that again, Sammy," said Ginger who did hear him. 

"Thanks to all of you, Chris is now single again," mentioned Donna. 

"Wait, he dumped you Chris?" questioned Jed innocently. 

"Oh no, Jed, don't try making him look like the bad guy! They would still be dating if the five of you didn't scare him away!" exclaimed Abbey. 

"Abbey, you don't know that," he attempted. 

"Oh, I think I know that for sure," she answered. "I believe all the ladies in the room, know that for sure. Ladies?" They all nodded. 

"Well, gentlemen, we are all now going to punish you," explained CJ. 

"Punish us?" asked Josh in disbelief. 

"You can't do that!" protested Toby. 

"Oh, I think we can," answered Bonnie. 

"What are you going to do?" asked Sam with a bit of fear in his voice. 

"Well, as much as we'd like to, we're not going to beat you senseless with a 2X4. So you can stop shaking, Sam," explained Carol. 

"Abbey, what are you going to do?" asked Jed. 

"Why? You scared?" He didn't answer her, so she continued. "First all of you are going to apologize to Chris and then to Nathan. Then all of you are never to do to another one of Chris's boyfriends what you did to Nathan. Also, we'd like for all of you to clean the mansion and make us a nice dinner. We wrote on this list what needs to be cleaned and what we'd like to eat. Right after you apologize to Chris all of us are going bowling." 

"Oh and the 82nd Airborne works for me!" added in Chris. "So don't try anything sneaky!" She smiled widely at them. 

Each and every one of them apologized to Chris and then called and apologized to Nathan. They then proceeded to do their punishment chores. That night all the females enjoyed a lovely dinner in the freshly cleaned White House. 

Now, many of you are probably wondering what happened with Nathan and Chris, right? Well, they never did start dating again because Nathan was still a little frightened even if she tried to assure him he didn't have to worry. They did, however, decide to keep their friendship going. The unfortunate thing is, though, after just being friends for a few months, Nathan's father was no longer needed in Washington, DC at his job. So Nathan and his parents ended up moving back to South Carolina. Chris and Nathan are still friends, though, and they stay in touch by talking on the phone and sending emails. Also, the president and his merry men never struck again. Chris, however, didn't have another boyfriend for a long time. 

The End!


	5. Other Daughter, The 5

**The Other Daughter ~ Sometimes Life Gets Hard**

**by:** CrazyChris 

**Disclaimer:** The West Wing belongs to NBC and Aaron Sorkin.  This is for entertainment purposes only.  No copyright infringement is intended.  It's just for fun and I'm just borrowing the characters.  
**Category:** New Character, General, AU  
**Rating:** YTEEN  
**Summary:** What if the Bartlets had a 17 year old daughter living with them at the White House?  Here's what could go on.  
**Author's Notes:** I’m thinking about turning this into a series.  Please, please, tell me if I should or not!  Let me know if you like this story, and remember it’s just for fun.  Please send feedback! 

* * *

Monday, February 7, 2000

Chris walked, well more like stomped, up to her bedroom and threw her backpack on her bed.  She was really frustrated with her school, and the stress was killing her.  Not only did she have tons of work to do, but the kids also found amusement in taunting her.  And God forbid, her father does something as president that someone or that someone’s parents didn’t like because of course it was Chris’s fault.  High school sucked especially when you’re the president’s daughter.  Although, her only options were to stay there or go to New Hampshire, and New Hampshire seemed like a good plan because her friends were all there.  But she would either have to live at the Manchester house by herself which wouldn’t be fun or live with her sister, Elizabeth, and that would result in Chris going to a different high school.  So, she figured that she was stuck going to her high school in DC.  It was a decent high school…not the best, but no school is perfect.  Instead of moping any longer, Chris decided to start her homework.

By the time dinner came around, Chris was still doing homework with no end in sight.  Abbey was down in her office and decided that she wanted to try and have a family dinner.  She first went to get Jed because she knew he would be more difficult to get.  Abbey walked into the Oval Office after stopping and saying hello to Mrs. Landingham.

“Jed.”  The president looked up when he heard his name.  He smiled when he saw his wife.  “Come have dinner with Chris and me upstairs.”

Jed looked around at the work he had to do.  It was a pretty light night.  Well as light as it can get when you’re the President of the United States.  “Yeah, okay.”

Abbey was surprised at how easy that was but didn’t complain.  She just walked with her husband back to the Residence.  On the walk over, Abbey told him that they still needed to get Chris.  They then walked into Chris’s room.

“Hey, Chris,” greeted Jed.  Chris jumped because she hadn’t heard her dad walk in.  “Sorry, sweetie, we didn’t mean to scare you.”

Chris took that time to look up because she was curious to see just exactly who “we” was.  “That’s fine.  What can I do for you?”  She attempted to smile, but it just didn’t seem to work.

“We want you to come have dinner with us,” explained Abbey.

“Thanks, but I can’t.”

“Chris, we never get to have dinner together, come on.”

“I’m aware of that, dad.  But it’s already 7 o’clock, and I still have 10 pages of history to read, 30 pages in _Of Human Bondage_ , a physics project to work on, and a French assignment to do.”  Chris went back to the reading she was doing.

“Chris, I tell you again and again to start your homework as soon as you get home and not prance around the West Wing,” scolded Jed.  That turned out to be a mistake because Chris started to flip out.

“I haven’t been in the West Wing in weeks!!  I’ve been in my room since 4 o’clock doing homework!  That’s right I’ve already done three hours of homework, and I have about three more hours left to do!  Now, I would love to have dinner with you, but I can’t!  So leave me alone and let me get this done!”  Chris went back to her history homework, and her parents knew better than to say anymore.

During dinner, Abbey and Jed talked mainly about Chris and her most recent outburst about school.  It wasn’t the first time she yelled at them because of school, but lately she’d been having a lot more outbursts.  Jed and Abbey were beginning to wonder if something else was causing them.  Abbey finally decided that after dinner she would bring Chris something to eat and talk to her about it.

A knock on her door caused Chris to groan in frustration.  “What now?”

“Chris, can we talk?”

She calmed down a bit when she saw who was at the door.  “Yeah, Jason, come on in.”  The Secret Service agent closed Chris’s door and then sat on a chair across from her bed.  “What’s going on?”

“I was talking to Ron Butterfield earlier, Chris.  He and I have decided that you need to tell your parents or we will.”

“Jason…”

“Chris, my job is to protect you and keeping secrets is not how I was trained.”

Chris nodded.  “I know.  It’s just…Hmph…My parents have enough to worry about with Zoey and Charlie.  It’ll kill them to know about this.”  A few tears started to run down Chris’s cheeks.

“I know, kiddo, but I also know you’re scared.  You need their support.”  After a few minutes of silence, Chris finally nodded.  “You’ll tell them?”

“Will you and Agent Butterfield come with me?  This way you guys can help me tell them.”  Jason nodded and then left to arrange a meeting. 

After he left, Chris forgot about her homework.  She rested her head on her pillow and started crying.  She was still crying when Abbey walked in to talk to her.  “Chris, what’s the matter?”  Chris quickly jumped up and started rubbing her eyes.

“Nothing, I’m just frustrated.  You know how it is when you’re trying to speak a different language.  You don’t understand why it takes so much to say this and so little to say that.”

“Well, yes, but something else is wrong.”  Chris didn’t get to reply because a knock interrupted her.

“Come in.”

“Hi, Chris, ma’am.  Chris, I just spoke to Jason.  They’re meeting in the Oval Office in 10 minutes.”

“Thanks, Bobbie.”  Chris looked at her mom.  “Come on, you’ll understand more in the Oval Office.”

Ten minutes later Chris, Abbey, Jed, Ron, and Jason were all sitting in the Oval Office.  Jed and Abbey sat on one couch, and the other three sat on the couch across from them.  Ron spoke first.  “The reason for this meeting is Chris requested that all of this be said at one time.”  He looked at Chris, and she told him to explain what was going on.  “For the last couple of weeks, Chris has been finding letters in her locker, backpack, and a few other places.”

“What kind of letters?“ asked the president looking at his daughter.

“Threats, sir,” answered Jason.

“What kind of threats?” asked Abbey with worry etched on her face.

“All kinds,” said Chris quietly.

“People don’t like the fact that Chris’s older sister is dating a black man or there are people who don’t agree with your views, sir, and are taking it out on her,” elaborated Jason.

“Sir, it looks as though she is being used as a punching bag.  Whatever people are unhappy with involving you and your family, they want to punish her for it,” continued Ron.

“What is being done to protect her?” questioned Jed who also motioned for his daughter to come over by him.  As Jason started to answer, Chris walked over and sat between her parents.

“The school security has been made aware of the threats.  I am with Chris all day, and an agent patrols outside.”

“Sir, we are doing all we can to make sure your daughter is safe. A lot of these threats look to be just threats that won’t be followed through, but we are taking everything seriously,” said Ron.

“I know that you are.  Thank you, Ron, Jason.  Is there anything else that we need to know?”

“No, sir,” answered Ron.  “Thank you for your time.  We will keep you posted.”  The president nodded and the Secret Service agents quietly left the room.

Chris didn’t say anything.  She instead leaned on her father’s shoulder and started to silently cry.  He held her while Abbey rubbed her back.  “Everything we’ll be fine, sweetie,” soothed the president.  Abbey looked at him with eyes that told him they would be talking about this later.  

Eventually Chris cried herself to sleep, and Abbey asked one of the agents outside to carry her up to her room.  Once Chris was out of the room, Abbey sat down next to Jed again and began talking to him.  “Jed, we need to do something.”

“What can we do, Abbey?  She has security.  She has to go to school.”  Abbey looked into her husband’s eyes.

“I think we should home school her.”

“What?  Are you serious?”

“Look, you’ve seen the stress she’s under just from school work.  Having threats hanging over her head makes the stress twenty times worse!  She’s only 17.  I can’t stand seeing her like this, and I would feel better knowing that at least one of my daughters was safe.  I worry enough about Zoey, and I know that she can handle threats.  But it scares Chris, and she doesn’t know how to handle it.”  Abbey pleaded with him.

“Okay, we’ll do it, but you do know that we will hear things from the press.  It goes against everything I say about public education.”

“Jed, listen to yourself.  I feel the same way about education as you do, but how can you possibly choose politics over your own daughter?”  

“Abbey, I didn’t say that.  I just…”  He stopped talking, and Abbey waited for him to continue.  When he didn’t, she spoke up.

“Screw the press.”

“Those are my thoughts everyday.  Yeah, okay, let’s do it.  I wouldn’t force someone to keep their kid in school if that child was unsafe, and I’m not doing it to my own daughter.”

Abbey nodded.  “We’ll have to start arranging things tomorrow then.  I’ll have Lily clear time in my schedule, and I’ll go to Chris’s school tomorrow.”

“Okay.”  The president and first lady talked a little while longer before Leo who needed to speak with him interrupted Jed.

Monday, February 21, 2000

Chris’s alarm clock went off at what had now become its usual time of 8 AM.  For almost a week now, Chris had been home schooled.  Her parents felt that it would be better for her to be taught at home because that way her life would be less stressful and safer.  Chris rolled out of bed, grabbed some clothes, and got in the shower.  Her home school teacher, Tracy, would be there at 9AM.  After showering, Chris had breakfast and then waited for Tracy to arrive.  Once she did, school, as Chris had come to know it, began.  At noon, Chris and Tracy had lunch, and by three o’clock they were done for the day.  The only thing Chris had to do for the next day was write a short essay and work on some math problems.  So far, she was really happy with her life.  She didn’t have a whole lot to do, so Chris decided to venture down to the West Wing to visit people there.

The West Wing was just as busy as usual.  People walked quickly up and down the hallways while other people bellowed orders and requested files.  Chris had gotten to know the names of pretty much everyone who worked in the West Wing.  Of course, new people were always coming in, so she didn’t know their names.  After careful consideration, Chris decided to venture down to the Communications Bullpen.  Once she got there, Chris sat down and talked with Bonnie, Ginger, and Cathy.  The four of them told various, mainly guy, stories.  They were having quite a bit of fun until Toby came out and yelled at everyone to get back to work.

“What about those who don’t work here?” asked Chris who just wanted to be a brat.

“Those people should leave and go do their homework,” answered Toby with a lot of annoyance in his voice.

“But…”

“Go!”

“I’m going!”  Chris quickly stood up and headed back to the Residence to work on her homework.  She was enjoying her life.  It had been so long since she was able to bug the Senior Staff.

Tuesday, February 22, 2000

The next day after Tracy and Chris finished the morning schoolwork; they ate lunch while continuing schoolwork.  Usually they took an hour break, but Tracy had to be somewhere around 2; so they continued on.  Around 1:30, they finished for the day.  

“Wow, 1:30, and I’m done with ‘class!’  We should do this everyday, Tracy!” 

Tracy chuckled a little.  “Maybe we can work something out.”  She gathered up everything she needed and stood up to leave.  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Chris.  Make sure you do your homework.”

“I will, I will.  I’ll see ya later, Tracy!  Bye!”

Seeing as how she didn’t have a lot to do, Chris headed down to the West Wing and figured she would be able to find something to do.  She walked through the bullpen only to find that Sam was working with the speechwriters, and Toby was meeting with her dad and Leo.  Chris then ventured down to Josh’s office.  Upon approaching his office, Chris could see CJ standing in the doorway.  Chris quietly walked to a spot near them and listened in on their conversation.  

“Are you in a lot of pain?” Chris heard Josh ask.

“I had woot canaw!” yelled CJ.  Chris had to smile at how funny CJ sounded when she talked.

“You’re going to need to stop saying that, ‘cause you just look and sound so ridiculous.”  Josh and CJ walked out of his office, and surprisingly they didn’t see Chris.  Just to be safe though, she moved out of eyesight.

“I have to cancew the bwiefing.”  

Chris listened to the two of them go back and forth for a while longer.  Eventually, CJ agreed to let Josh do the briefing, although she was very hesitant and worried.

“Josh, pwease be vewy cawefuw.  Twy vewy, vewy hawd not to destwoy us.”

“You shouldn’t say that, CJ, you’ve got a great body…Here we go.  Woo!”  Josh bounded down the hallway to the briefing room, and Chris made a run in with CJ.

“Hey there, CJ.”

“Hi,” she answered quietly and continued down to her office.

“You don’t look so happy.”

“I had woot canaw.”

“Awww, I’m sorry to hear that.  So did you cancel the briefing?”  Chris decided to play around with CJ for a little bit.

“Yosh is doing the bwiefing.”

“Really?  That can’t be good.”

“I don’t want to think about it, Chwis.”

“So, tell me, CJ, later do you want to go wabbit huntin with me?”  Chris impersonated Elmer Fudd.  CJ just glared at her.  “Come on, we gotta get those wasclin’ wabbits.”

“I hate you.”

“Awww, and I love you too.”  CJ just looked at her some more.  Chris looked at the TV in CJ’s office.  “Look, Josh is on TV!”

During the press briefing, Chris sat on CJ’s couch, and CJ sat at her desk.  To put it simply, Josh could not be press secretary.  Whenever he did something wrong, CJ usually said “Oh my God.”  Chris, on the other hand, laughed because she thought both Josh’s mistakes and CJ’s reactions were hilarious.  CJ, however, saw no humor whatsoever, and she kept giving Chris evil glares.

“Is the reason you won’t tell us about it is that it’s a secret?” asked Danny.  Chris leaned up onto the edge of her seat.  She could not wait for his answer.

“Yeah, Danny, we have a secret inflation plan,” answered Josh sarcastically.

“Oh my God!” exclaimed CJ.

Chris didn’t say anything; she just looked from CJ to the TV back to CJ.  “Oh yeah, he’s gonna pay for that.”  Chris watched Josh quickly derail and CJ groan, cringe, and take more pain pills.  As soon as the briefing finally ended, Chris spoke first.  “Now, _that_ is comedy!”  CJ once again looked angrily at her and then left her office in pursuit of Josh.

Not wanting to miss any of the drama, Chris followed closely behind CJ.

“Joshua!” yelled CJ.  Chris peaked around CJ to see Josh.

“Yeah, that’s the face I wanted to see!”

“What the heww happened in thewe!?”

“CJ…” he began.  

“You compwetewy impwoded!” 

“What’d I do?”  They were now in Josh’s office and amazingly no one seemed to care that Chris was in there too.

“You completely imploded,” translated Donna.  Chris nodded in agreement.

CJ and Josh bantered back and forth, and Chris just sat on the couch and watched.  “Where the hell is he?”  That would be the voice of Toby.

“Oh yeah, Josh, you are screwed, Toby is gonna kill you!”

“Shut up, Chris!” replied Josh.  He paused then looked back at her.  “When did you get here?”

“I’ve been here the whole time.”  Josh looked to Donna who nodded in agreement.  Toby took that moment to enter while Donna left.  

Toby spent most of his time in Josh’s office yelling at Josh for his stupidity.  Chris just continued to sit on the couch and remained quiet.  She really wanted to laugh but knew not to.  Eventually, Toby looked back at the couch and was shocked to see Chris sitting there.  She waved and smiled at him.  He was about to say something when Sam walked in.  Sam came in to deliver news worse than Josh’s little mishap in the pressroom.  Apparently, Roberto Mendoza, the nominee for the US Supreme Court, said some things he shouldn’t have.

“This isn’t exactly the best day for the Bartlet White House, huh?”

“Chris…” said Toby in a stern tone.

“Shutting up.” 

Soon Sam, Josh, Toby, and CJ left for the Roosevelt Room where they would be meeting Leo.  Chris followed them in and sat down in one of the chairs.

“What are you doing?” asked Sam.

“Sitting.”

“Yeah, you need to leave,” he answered.

“WhatI?” asked Chris hurt.  “I’ve been watching this entire drama unfold and now you’re kicking me out?”

“I’m afraid so, kid,” said Josh.  “Playtime is over.”

“Oh, yeah, like _you’re_ one to talk, Josh!”  Chris then stood up and stomped out of the room.  She began walking down the hallway and saw Leo on his way to the Roosevelt Room.  He ignored her in the hallway, so Chris took that opportunity to follow him and stand outside the door to listen in.

Leo walked out of the room after saying how the president was in New Orleans for a labor conference, which was news to Chris.  “My dad’s in New Orleans?”

“Jesus, Chris!  Were you lurking outside the door?” asked Leo as he walked towards his office and Chris picked up her pace and walked with him.

“Yeah, I was curious to see what was going on.  And well, my dad is in New Orleans?”

“Yes, he’ll be back around 3:30 AM.”

“He didn’t invite me…hmph.”

“Why aren’t you upstairs learning right now?”

“We ended early today.  I’ve been lurking, as you describe it, since about 1:30.”  By now they were back in Leo’s office.  Chris made herself at home and took a seat on Leo’s couch.   He talked to Margaret about a few messages before he turned back to Chris.

“Chris, do you plan on staying down here for a long time?”

“That’s my current plan.”

“Alright then, here,” Leo led her over to the table in his office.  He told her to sit down.  “Now, I want you to read through all these files, and when you find something that involves Roberto Mendoza put it in this folder.  Once you’re done, bring the folder down to Toby’s office.  Anything not involving Mendoza just put to the side.  Got it?”

“Yep!”

“Okay, happy hunting.”  Chris smiled at her uncle, and he smiled back.  He then went back over to his desk and sat down.  

They worked in silence for a while, but eventually that started to drive Chris crazy.  She started singing, but Leo told her to stop.  She hummed and was silenced.  She whistled and was yelled at.  “You know what, Uncle Leo!?  I need noise while working!  Now either you let me sing, whistle, or hum; or I will start babbling.  I know how much you love that!”

“Chris?” he said sternly.

“Yes?” she answered sweetly.

“You know that line you can’t cross when you’re with the Chief of Staff even if you can cross it when you’re with your godfather.”  She nodded slowly.  “You’re coming pretty close to it, so I would watch it.”

“Well, I’m with my godfather…” she mumbled.

“Chris…”

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop.  Jeez, the people in this part of the building are so touchy.”  Leo smiled and nodded, and the two of them went back to work.  “This job sucks!” exclaimed Chris after a while.

“Why do you think I’m not doing it?”

“You’re mean!”

“I know.”  Chris stuck her tongue out at him.  “Watch it.  I have plenty of windows that need to be washed.”

“Grrr…”  Chris glared at him.  “I’ll get you back for this…you just wait.” 

A few hours later, Chris finally finished.  She grabbed the two folders she managed to fill and headed down to the Communications Bullpen.  The West Wing was starting to empty out as people headed home for the night.  Chris didn’t realize it at first, but it was already after 6PM.  She entered the Bullpen and found Bonnie at her desk.

“Bonnie, these are for Toby.  They’re all documents with information about Roberto Mendoza.”

“Okay, thanks, Chris.  I’ll get them to him.”  Chris nodded and started to walk away, but Bonnie’s voice stopped her.  “How come you’re the delivery girl?”

“Uncle Leo put me to work.  I just spent the last few hours reading hundreds of documents looking for Mendoza’s name.”

“Are you being punished?”

“I don’t think so.  I think Uncle Leo is just trying to keep me out of trouble.”  Bonnie nodded.  “Well, now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to go see if my mom would like to have dinner with me.”  Chris started to walk away.

“Chris.”

“Yeah?”

“Your mom is in Argentina.”

“Oh yeah.  I forgot.  Oh well, I guess I’ll just ask Uncle Leo then.  See ya later!”

“Bye!”  

Chris bounded down the hallway back to the Chief of Staff’s office.  She really hoped that he would want to have dinner with her because she didn’t feel like eating alone.  Leo agreed to have dinner with his goddaughter, and after dinner Chris went to her room to work on some homework.  She then went to bed.

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

Early the next morning, while Chris was still asleep, the president scolded Josh for his actions in the Press Room the day before.  By the time Chris woke up, everything had changed and life in the West Wing went on.  Oh well, yesterday was fun while it lasted.  Tracy came at her usual time that morning, and she and Chris made an agreement to finish class everyday by about 1:30.  This way Chris had more free time, and Tracy was able to have a second job seeing as how being a tutor for the president’s daughter didn’t pay as much as you would think.  At about 2:00, Chris headed down to the West Wing to hopefully have another fun day.  

“Hellooooo, Unc-ee Leo!!” greeted Chris upon entering the Chief of Staff’s office.  

Leo looked up at his goddaughter, then down at his watch, then back up at her.  “You should be learning,” he said brusquely before continuing his work.

“I am done for the day.  Tracy got a second job, so I will be done at about 1:30 everyday.  Isn’t that great!?”

“Spectacular.”  She sat down in the chair across from his desk and smiled widely at him.  “Go upstairs and teach yourself how to speak Latin.”

“Latin!?  Uncle Leo, what the hell?”  He didn’t answer.  “I’m getting the impression that you don’t want me here.”

“Wow, you are a quick one!”

“Just for that, I’m going to bug you for the rest of the day.”

“Well, hallelujah, I think I’m the luckiest man alive!”

“You’re a mean, mean old man.”

“Why thank you, I work hard for that reputation.”  Chris stuck her tongue out at him.  “You’re a very childish teenager.”

“Thank you I work hard for that reputation.”  Chris smiled widely at Leo and this time he smiled back and laughed a little.  Believe it or not, this was the type of relationship the two of them had with each other.  It was one filled with sarcasm and jokes…interesting, huh?  (Okay, okay, humor me a bit, all right?)

Chris stayed true to her word and bugged Leo for the rest of the afternoon.  She mainly just sat in his office talking, singing, humming, and whistling.  She also made paper airplanes and flew them around the room.  When he had a “very important meeting,” Chris would sit with Margaret until he was done.  By the time evening rolled around, Leo was about ready to throw Chris out the window.  She was driving him crazy.  He didn’t want to kick her out though because he knew she would go bug someone else.  Better him then someone else because at least he was used to Chris’s antics.  Chris eventually left to go do…something…Leo wasn’t sure what because she just got up and left.  When she did come back, she was carrying food.

“Here, I brought you a sandwich, bro,” she said ending Leo a sandwich and napkin.

“Did you just call me ‘bro’?”  Chris nodded, smiled, handed him a bottle of water, and sat down at the small table in his office.  “Seriously, people like you just are not normal.”

“I know.”  Chris had made herself a sandwich, so she was eating it while reading a file about a House bill that was on the table.

A little while later, Leo left to go do something and left Chris in his office.  She was only in there by herself for a few minutes before Sam and CJ walked in.  They were talking about someone getting arrested, and soon Chris found out that that someone was Roberto Mendoza.  He was arrested for drunk driving.  Toby eventually came in and was far from happy.  None of them seemed to have noticed Chris sitting in the room, or they did notice her and didn’t care.

“Have someone find his lawyer and talk to him. Sam, there’s an Air Force Lear jet with its motor running. Fly to Westchester County airport, rent a car, drive to Wesley, and get the next associate Justice of the Supreme Court out of jail. C.J., Sam sees one reporter when he gets off that plane, I’m gonna blame you,” said Leo once he walked into the room.

“Toby’s got you covered there,” answered CJ.  

“I’m going with Sam,” said Toby.

“Can I go?”

“Toby,” said Leo before he looked over at Chris.

“The judge and I are going to have an abrupt conversation,” replied Toby.

“Please, can I go?” whined Chris.  Leo glared at her.  “Please, Uncle Leo??  You’ll get rid of me for a while.”  Chris smiled sweetly at her uncle.  She knew that he had work to do and really wanted to get her out of his hair, so her chances of going were high.

“Fine.  Toby, Sam, take her with you.”

“Oh, thank you, thank you!”  Chris gave her godfather a hug.

“Chris, if Sam and Toby tell me that you were causing problems, you’ll be washing every window in the building everyday for the next two months.  Am I understood?”  Chris nodded.  CJ, Sam, and Toby then filed out of the office with Chris following close behind.  Leo spoke to them as they were leaving.  “I want my phone to ring once every 15 minutes. I want to know what’s going on!”

Chris walked in between Sam and Toby out to the car that would be taking them to the airplane.  “Chris, if you cause any trouble, I will not hesitate to tell Leo and leave you on the side of the road.  This is not fun time for me; this is work.  Understand?” asked Toby.

“Yes, I do.”

“Good.  Let’s go then.”  Toby, Sam, and Chris left for their little trip to Connecticut.  

The plane ride to Connecticut was surprisingly quiet.  Toby and Sam talked a little about what they were going to do when they saw Mendoza, and Chris sat in her seat looking out the window.  Since she started to be home schooled, Chris didn’t really receive any threats; so the only time she had to be with a Secret Service Agent was when she was out and about by herself.  The president wasn’t extremely happy about that, but he agreed to it.  Chris has to always carry a panic button, and the first time Chris is suspected to be in any danger, she will be attached to an agent.

The car ride to Wesley started out all right, but it soon went to hell.  “What do you mean we’re lost!?” exclaimed Chris from the back seat.

“We’re not lost!”  defended Sam.

“We’re lost!” said Toby at the same time Sam spoke.

“I don’t believe it!  How could we be lost!?  Shouldn’t people working for the President of the United States know how to use a map!?”  Chris was flipping out in the back seat.  “I can’t believe this!  I’m going to die lost with you two in the middle of no where Connecticut!”  
  


“Okay, first of all you’re not gonna die!  Second of all, I can read a map, and third, shut up!” yelled Toby.  Chris in response stuck her tongue out…Toby didn’t see her do that, but Sam did who smiled to himself.  “Okay, you know what I’m calling Josh.”

“Why Josh!?” yelled Chris.

“Because Josh is from Connecticut!” answered Toby.  He called Josh, but Josh was speaking at a lecture at the time and didn’t help Toby.

“I’m sooooo glad you called Josh,” said Chris bitterly.  “This has got to be the worst way to die.”

“You really need to shut up or else I’m leaving you on the side of the road!”

“You’re so mean!!”

“Oh, I’m hurt!”  Sam laughed at Toby and Chris fighting with each other.  He just kept driving; soon though, Toby said something that concerned Sam.  “We’re going the wrong way.”

“No we’re not,” replied Sam.

“We’re supposed to be going east.”

“We’re going east.”

“How do you know we’re going east?”

“The sun rises in the east.”

“It’s dark outside!”

“Also, that bright star in the northern sky is Polaris. “

“So what?”

“I’m using celestial navigation.”

“Hey, Galileo, get off at the next exit and turn the car around.”

“CELESTIAL NAVIGATION!?!?” screamed Chris from the back seat warranting her a glare from Toby.  She had kept quiet during all of their conversation, but now she had something to say.  “It’s the year 2000, and you’re using stars to travel!?  You know technology these days makes it so that you don’t have to count on a star when traveling!”

“Are you done now!?” yelled Sam.

“NO!”  She didn’t say anything else for a while.  Sam and Toby waited for her to say more.  “This trip sucks!”

“No one said it was going to be fun!” retorted Toby.

“No one said we would get lost!”

“We’re not lost!”

“SHUT UP, SAM!” yelled Toby and Chris.

“Alright, you know what?  Everyone is a little bit on edge here.”

“Ya think!?” asked Toby in response to Sam’s last statement.

“I’m going to turn on the radio to calm everyone down, and we will find the Wesley police station.”  Sam did as he said and soon quiet music filled the car.  

Chris loved music, so she listened to it.  She soon became bored with the song that was on and discovered that there were radio controls in the back seat.  She began to flip channels.

“What the hell?” mumbled Sam who switched the radio stations back.  Chris smiled because she knew Sam didn’t know she could flip the radio stations.  She flipped the radio stations again.  “Damn radio.”  Sam changed the station back and banged on the radio a bit.

“Sam, what’s wrong with the radio?” asked Chris, innocently.

“Don’t know.”  The station hadn’t changed yet.  “I think it stopped whatever it was doing.”  Right after he said that, Chris started flipping channels again.  “Oh, for the love of Pete!”  As soon as Sam went to change the station back, Chris greatly raised the volume.

“Sam!  What the hell are you doing!?” yelled Toby who up till then had ignored the radio.

“Nothing!  This radio is possessed!  It has a mind of its own!”  No matter what he did, the volume wouldn’t decrease because Chris increased it as soon as he decreased it.  

“Turn it down!!” screamed Toby.

“I’m trying!!” replied Sam.  Chris meanwhile was in the back seat trying not to laugh.  Soon she turned the volume down and changed the channel back.  Sam sighed in relief.  But then the stations started flipping again and the volume increased.

“Just turn the damn thing off, Sam!!”

Sam did as Toby told him, and both of them sighed.  Chris smiled evilly and turned the radio back on.  “WHAT THE HELL!?” screamed Sam and Toby.  Chris couldn’t contain herself anymore, and she started laughing hysterically.  Sam shut off the radio, and Toby looked back at Chris.

“What in God’s name is so funny?”  Toby then saw her move her hand and hit what looked to be a button causing the radio to flip back on.  “It was you!?”  She nodded.  “Not funny.”

“Oh but it was.”

“What?” asked Sam.

“The radio was possessed by Christine Bartlet!”

“What!?”

“She has controls in the back seat.”

“Not funny, Chris.”

“Yeah it was,” she answered because her laughter had subsided a bit.  “You guys were freakin’ out.  It was hilarious!”   Chris started making fun of them then.  “’The radio is possessed!’”  Chris imitated Sam.  “’Just turn the damn thing off, Sam!’”  Now she pretended to be Toby.

                                          

“THAT’S IT!” screamed Toby.  “Stop the car!”  Sam did as he was told because he didn’t like the look in Toby’s eyes.  As soon as the car was close to being stopped, Toby jumped out and opened the back door.  “OUT!” 

“NO!”

“GET OUT OF THE CAR!”

“Sam…” whined Chris.

“Just do as he says, Chris.  I’ll send an officer for you when we get to the police station.”

“If you get to the police station,” mumbled Chris.

“What was that?” asked Sam while she crawled out of the car.

“Nothing!”  Chris got out and stood next to the car.  She watched as Toby got back in without even looking at her.

“Okay, drive, Sam.”

“Toby, I really don’t think you…”

“DRIVE!!”

“Okay!”  Sam gave one last look at Chris, winked to reassure her that it would be all right, and slowly pulled away.

Toby sighed at the new silence.  Sam on the other hand was nervous about leaving the First Daughter on the side of the road.  Chris, meanwhile, found a nice log and sat on it.  She decided to just watch cars drive by.  About five minutes after they left Chris, Toby spoke up.  “SHIT!”

“What?” asked Sam fearing what was going to happen now.

“What the hell did I just do?!”

“That’s what I would like to know!  You left the President’s of the United States youngest daughter on the side of the road in the middle of Connecticut.  Do you hate your job that much!?  I mean, Jesus, Toby, were you thinking five minutes ago!  I know she can be a pain, but we all love her and…”

“All right!  You don’t have to rub it in!  Just go back and pick her up!  When we get back to DC, I’ll buy her something!”  

Sam drove back to the spot where they left Chris.  They found her sitting on a log seeming to concentrate on something.  Toby got out and walked up to her.  

“Fifty-six…fifty-seven…fifty-eight…”

“What are you doing!?”

“Counting.  Fifty-nine…sixty…”

“What?”

“Cars…sixty-one…sixty-two…”

“Get in the car.”

“Oh now you want me in the car?  I seem to recall you kicking me out of the car.”

“Shut up and get in the car now before I change my mind!”

Chris jumped up and quickly got back in the car.  Once they were on the road for a few minutes, Chris spoke up.  “You may want to call Uncle Leo, Toby, and tell him that you went back to pick me up.  He mentioned something about Secret Service and FBI and well it sounded like it could get messy.”

“YOU CALLED LEO!!?!?” screamed Toby.  Sam and Chris both winced.

“Well, yeah!  You left me on the side of the road, what was I supposed to do!?”

“All right, fine.  Well, it was a good job for the year that it lasted,” Toby mumbled while picking up the phone and dialing Leo’s number.

“Leo McGarry.”

“Leo, it’s To…”

“TOBY!  WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING!?!?  YOU LEFT MY GODDAUGHTER ON THE SIDE OF A HIGHWAY IN A STATE THAT SHE’S NEVER BEEN IN!?!  HOW STUPID ARE YOU!?  I COULD KILL YOU!!”  Leo was so loud that Toby had to hold the phone away from his ear, and Sam and Chris could hear the entire rant clearly from their seats.  “WAIT UNTIL THE PRESIDENT FINDS OUT!!  HE’LL KILL YOU AND THEN I’LL KILL YOU AGAIN AND MAYBE WE’LL LET CHRIS KILL YOU AND THEN WE’LL DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.  YOU BETTER GO BACK AND GET HER OR ELSE THE SECRET SERVICE WILL WANT TO KILL YOU TOO!!”

“Toby…Toby!”  He looked back at Chris.  She motioned for him to hand her the phone.  She grabbed the phone, put the microphone up to her mouth, and screamed.  “UNCLE LEO!!!!!!!!!!” He stopped in mid-rant.

“Chris?” he asked surprised.

“In the flesh,” she answered.

“What?”

“Nevermind…look, Toby picked me up…It was all a big joke…ha ha…you should have been in the car, we laughed about it for the longest time.  Anyway, don’t worry, everything’s fine.  Welp, we gotta go, I think I see the Wesley police station.  Ciao!”  Chris powered off the phone and tossed it back to Toby.  “Ahh, the power women have.”

“Thank you.  I will buy you anything you want,” said Toby.

“I’ll let you know when I know what I want,” she answered.

“Do you really see the Wesley Police station?” asked Sam who was hoping she saw something he didn’t.

“Ha, I wish!”  They then continued to drive hoping to find their destination soon.

For a long time, they drove in silence, which completely surprised Sam and Toby.  They didn’t think Chris could stay quiet for that long.  But she did.  She was scared of Toby kicking her out again, that’s why.  In fact to the amazement of Sam and Toby, Chris fell asleep.

“There’s a store open up there.  I'm gonna pull over and ask 'em if they know   
where the Wesley police station is,” said Sam after Toby got off the phone with Josh.

“Or you could just pull up there,” said Toby pointing to the other side of the street, “at the Wesley Police station and ask them.”

“Hey!”

“Yeah.”

“Look!”

“Yeah.”

“We found it!”

“Let’s get this done and get outta here.”  

The car stopping caused Chris to wake up.  “Are we there yet?”  She was laying down in the back seat, so she couldn’t see out the window.  Plus, she wasn’t totally awake yet.

“Yeah.  You can stay in the car and sleep some more while Sam and I go inside.”  Chris just nodded and went right back to sleep.

“You know, Toby, one minute you’re yelling at her and leaving her on the side of the road, and then the next minute you’re treating her like she’s your kid.”

“What can I say?  I like her when she’s quiet.”  Toby smirked, and Sam shook his head.  “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

Chris decided about 5 minutes after they left that she didn’t like sleeping in the car by herself.  She got out and headed towards the police station.  Also, it’s not like she knew how long they would be in there.  She could be in the car for hours; these were politicians we’re talking about.  She walked in and saw only Sam.

“Where’s the mean one?” she asked after sneaking up on him.

“Jesus, Chris, you’re supposed to be sleeping.”

“Yeah, I didn’t feel like doing that anymore.  So where is he?”

“With Mendoza.”  Chris nodded.

“I see.  Well, I would just like to say that this has been one looooong day.”

“Yes, well, as I was saying to Toby if we…”

“Yeah, shut up, I don’t care.”

“Hmm, he at least let me finish the sentence.”

“Guess he’s nicer.”  

Sam and Chris looked at each other, and at the same time they both said. “Naaaaah.”

Eventually, Toby came back out with Mendoza, and they all left together.  Chris was very happy about being back in the White House.  She decided that going to Connecticut was not all that fun.  Next time, she’s traveling with Josh that would probably be more fun.

When they arrived back at the White House, Toby and Sam headed for the West Wing, and Chris went to the Residence.  She made it about halfway to her room before a Secret Service Agent told her that she needed to go to the Oval Office.  

“Great, what I do now?” she thought while walking over there.  

She saw Charlie who told her that the President was waiting for her so she could go right on in.  When she entered the room, she saw her father and uncle sitting on the couches in the middle of the room talking.  

“You summoned,” she said causing both of them to turn towards the door.

“Oh, well, there’s the troublemaker now.  Come in, Chris,” said Jed.  She slowly entered the room and sat on the couch across from them.  

“What’s going on?” she asked slowly.

“Leo has been telling me about your day.”  Chris nodded and looked at her godfather.  “Chris, we didn’t start home schooling you just so that you would have more time to annoy members of the senior staff and make it difficult for them to work.” 

“But Leo said I could go to Connecticut!” she protested.  

“What?” asked the president sounding confused.

Chris looked at Leo whose eyes were really big.  He looked straight back at her.  “You…you didn’t tell him?” she asked quietly.

“Well, I wasn’t planning on it,” replied Leo.

“What the hell is going on here!?” interrupted Jed.  “Was my daughter in Connecticut with Toby and Sam?”

“Sir…” started Leo.

“You let her go without even asking me first!?”

“Sir…”

“What if something happened!?”

“Sir, she wanted to go, and I just wanted to get her out of my hair for a while.  Nothing happened.  Everything’s fine,” explained Leo.

“I can’t believe this, my daughter was in Connecticut this whole time.  You told me she was with Josh!”

‘Well, I knew you wouldn’t mind that as much.”

“Damn right!  Her being somewhere in DC is fine…in another state, not fine!”

“OKAY!  Can we please stop talking about me!?  I’m in the room,” yelled Chris.  She was getting annoyed.  “If you want to keep talking about me, that’s fine, but tell me because I don’t have to be here for that.”

“Chris, I’m disappointed in you.  You know you can’t just travel around like that.”

“Uncle Leo said I could go!”

“I don’t care.  Next time you ask me.”

“Fine.  Can I go now?” asked Chris.  The president nodded.  “Thank you.  Uncle Leo…”

“We’ll talk tomorrow, kiddo.  Go to bed, you look tired.”

“Thanks.  Good night.”  She hugged her dad and godfather and then headed upstairs.

Once in bed Chris lay there thinking about what had happened the last couple days.  She had to laugh.  All of it was quite amusing.  She then began to think about her friends back home and just how much she missed them.  However she loved all of the new friends she had made with the Senior Staffers.  Now, all she hoped for was that she would have an adventure with some staffers again soon.  Only time would tell of what was going to come next in the always unpredictable White House.

The End


End file.
